How to Kick a Football

Video Transcript

"Coach Rudy, Big Ten Alumni. Special teams are a very important part of the game. The third part of the game--offense, defense, special teams. Many championships are won based on special teams. More specifically, let's talk about the kickoff. Making sure that we put the ball in the tee on the kickoff, at an angle where our foot strikes the ball to create a rotation on the ball, and we can get depth on the kick. If it's windy, like it is today, you want to bring one of the linemen in on the kickoff to hold the ball on the tee. That's very, very important. We want to make sure that the ball is at an angle so when the foot strikes the ball, it creates rotation, and you can get distance on the ball. You never know when you're going to onside kick, so you always want to set the ball the same way. You never want to give the receiving team the indication that you're going to do anything differently. So develop a style where you can set the ball on the tee the exact same way every time, no matter if you're going to onside kick or kick it deep. That's really important. It doesn't matter if we're talking about an extra point, or a kickoff, the way the ball sits on the--before it is kicked, it doesn't matter if we're talking about an extra point or a kickoff, the way the ball sits before it's struck is crucial. Make sure you work on that."