When to Not Catch a Kick in Football

Series Summary

Modern football began in 1874 and has been a famed American sport for competitive teams of all ages. The object of the games is to advance the football into the opposing team’s end zone. This is called a touchdown. There are other ways to gain points in football including two-point conversions and field goals. The team with the most touchdowns or other points wins. As a kick returner it is your responsibility to fight and claw your way for every yard and beyond any other factor, hold on to the ball!

As special teams go the kick returner is the president. The coaches secret weapon. He always wants the ball in pressure situations and when he has it he fights for as much yardage as he can. This is a great series for anyone who is or is thinking of becoming a special teams player and will need to know how to run a kick return. Our expert will go through every aspect of this special teams play from possible stances to how to hold the ball as you run to breaking tackles. There are also more advanced moves covered that pros use such as the spin move and the stiff arm. If you can master these there is no stopping you!

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about now is when returning a kick, either a punt or a kick off, there are a few times when you want to make sure it's alright to catch the ball or when you want to let that ball go. If you're receiving a kick off and you're receiving the ball in the end zone and the guy in front of you that is your main blocker is already past the 20 yard line, chances are the contact is already happening up the field and it's going to be hard for you to come out of the end zone and get that ball to the 20 yard line or greater, you might as well catch the ball in and take a knee. That's what you want to do with a kick off. Also, when receiving the kick off you want to make sure to catch it to one side or the other depending upon what your dominant side is. If your dominant side is to the right, then you want to catch it on the right side and return it out. On punts, there are a couple of different ways. When you're receiving the punt and the punt is kicked up high and it is above you, chances are you probably want to let that go because it's probably going to go over your head. Or, if it's above you, you might want to make a fair catch. If the ball is at eye level and it's coming with a hard consistency, you don't want to run up on it and make the catch. You want to step back and if you have time, let it hit and hop to you or you want to let that one go and roll dead. So, there are a couple of times when you don't want to catch the kick and there are some times when you do want to catch it and return it."