10. The Kicking Came

THE MILLS SYSTEM

No treatise on punting would be complete without a low bow to a unique, round little man by the name of LeRoy N. Mills, who, more than a quarter of a century ago, introduced a system of kicking that threatened to revolutionize the ancient art. Mr. Mills, a Princetonian who played football around the turn of the century, was long before my time. But, I have heard so many older players arid coaches talking with awe of the man that I had to investigate his techniques and read the book he wrote on them, Kicking the American Football.

Mr. Mills was a rich New York lawyer with a strange hobby. While his friends were out playing golf or collecting butterflies or rare stamps and coins, the little lawyer would be out on the grounds of his estate kicking a football. He spent 20 years practicing what he called "control kicking," and when he thought he had the system perfected, he offered to teach it free to anyone who would look and listen.

Mr. Mills' most famous pupils were Frank Carideo, the great Notre Dame quarterback; Don Kellett, Penn halfback of the early 1930's and now general manager of the Baltimore Colts; and Franny Murray, another Penn halfback of the late 1930's, who probably was the most skillful exponent of precision punting.

I have pumped Kellett for further information, asking him to explain the system which I might have given my good right foot to see in action. Without going into all the details, Don said that Mr. Mills stressed five "methods" in his kicking system. Roughly, as Kellett described them, they were:

1. Right spiral. The ball was struck by the outside of a right-footed kicker's shoe so that when it landed on the turf, it bounced toward the right sideline.

1. Left spiral.   The ball was so struck by the inside of a right-footed kicker's shoe that when it hit the ground, it would bounce toward the left sideline.
2. A low, straight-ahead punt with a rapid end-over-end bounce in the same direction.   This type of punt was used in quick-kicking.
3. A high spiral, with an end-over-end and forward roll.
4. A high spiral kicked in such a manner that, like a mashie shot in
   golf and a draw shot in billiards, the ball would roll scarcely at all.

Description of the five methods fascinated me and I asked Kellett what had happened to this system of precision punting and whether it survived somewhere in some form.

"I think the colleges could use a lot of it quite profitably," Don said. "I remember that in one game against Navy, I kicked the ball out of bounds four times inside the ten-yard line. But, don't get me wrong, 1 was never as proficient as the master. He could do things with a football that Willie Hoppe could do with a billiard ball.

"Mr. Mills died of a heart attack in 1938 while instructing the Princeton kickers in his punting methods. I guess you could say the system died with him for lack of enough good instructors. But in the case of pro football, the system was not adopted for a variety of reasons.

"The pros went universally to the T," Kellett explained, "and got away from the quick kick. The last pro team I saw use it was the 1949 Eagles. Joe Muha, their fullback and linebacker, was a whiz at it. It was supposed to have weaknesses such as a tip-off to the opposing team because the quarterback had to get closer to the center so the ball could be snapped between his legs to the kicker. But, nobody ever seemed to get wise to it when the Eagles sprung it.

"The Eagles, though, were one of the finest defensive pro teams of all time, and they could say to an opponent with impunity, 'here, you take the football and see what you can do with it.' Now, all the pro teams have to stress possession because the league is so evenly balanced, and almost any team can go on a scoring rampage if it once gets possession. Or, as Jimmy Conzelman, former coach of the Cardinals said when asked to comment back in the 1940's on the Mills system:

" 'Position on the field doesn't mean as much to me as possession of the ball.   I'll take the ball wherever I can get it and hold on to the ball.'

"Additionally, most college and pro teams went to the double safety to combat the Mills system of precision kicking. This meant that the ball was not permitted to hit the turf as often as it did when there was only one safety man to field it."

Yes, I know full well that the pros now stress the high punt with the defensive ends and tackles racing down to smother the receiver. The efficacy of this method of punting is attested by the low average of yards returned by almost every receiver and the extraordinary number of fair catches that are called. But, I just can't help think of a speedy end downing one of my high spiral "draw shots" on the three-yard line, or two of my left spiral boots going out on the two-yard line.

But, I'm too old a dog to learn tricks, especially new tricks that were popular back in 1932 when I was only six years old. So, I'll have to confine my punting tricks to what my old coach, Jim Aiken, taught me at the University of Oregon back in 1946.

At least once a week, Jim told his entire squad that the most important play in football, under given circumstances, was the punt. "The easiest way to lose a game," he would say, "is to get a punt blocked."

SPREAD PUNT

Besides affording the kicker protection to get the kick away, the team as a unit must cover the punt in a systematic fashion. One of the most demoralizing things that can happen to a squad is to have a punt returned for a touchdown. A punt return for the distance seems to take the sap out of a team. The Giants showed this very demoralization when the Eagles beat them in the first game of the Franklin Field season in 1959. Two long runs with punts—one by Art Powell and the other by Tommy McDonald—created such chaos among the Giants that we went on to beat the heavly favored Eastern Conference Champions, 49-21.

Diagram 36 shows the spread punt protection and coverage for the kick. This is not a typical punt return formation on the part of the receiving team, but has been drawn in this manner to illustrate the kicking team's protection responsibilities and coverage.

The blocking assignments are as simple as could possibly be devised. The center is numbered 0 and has no blocking assignment if he is uncovered. If a man is over him, he pops him with a shoulder and releases immediately into his coverage.

V         V
V
4·           3           2                     2        3                 4
V        V       V       V        VV    V               V
o    0 o o ¤ o    o    o
3     2O°O2         3
1         1
o

Diagram 36.    Spread punt formation.

The guards are numbered 2 and therefore seek out the second man on the line, take a shoulder pop, and release. The tackles are numbered 3 and block the third man down on the line. The ends are the No. 4 men and they block the fourth opponent if there is one. If there isn't an opponent to the end's side, the end releases immediately to his outside. He must never allow the safety man to go to the sideline, which he prevents by going outside him. Rather, the end should turn the punt return by the safety man into the large reception committee coming to the inside.

The two backs are numbered 1, and they block the first man down on the line. Inasmuch as they are usually smaller than the charging lineman, the backs should be careful not to be knocked back, possibly into the punter. Instead, they should deliver a hard, sharp shoulder block and release quickly for duty downfield. These backs are the speed specialists and, as such, it's their duty to get downfield as quickly as possible.

The fullback takes a position five yards deep from the line of scrimmage, and his role is that of the general clean-up man. His first responsibility is to his right; he blocks the first man who comes through to his right. The fullback acts as the safety man in case the return is successful.

The kicker stands 14 yards deep. His speed of kicking may vary with the rush. If he anticipates a heavy rush, he must kick as quickly as pos­sible. If he feels a return is on, instead of the rush, he may take his time with the rush such as it is, and wait for the coverage to form before actually kicking the ball. After kicking, he plays the safety role along with the fullback.

I think a word of caution is necessary for the kicker at this point. Fourteen yards is a pretty wide gap between the kicker and the line of scrimmage, but it can be awfully short if the pass from center is off-key, or if the punter dawdles too long before putting his foot to the ball.

Horace Gillom, who was the Browns' long distance punter some years ago, found this out to his sorrow. Since Gillom stood about 18 yards behind the line of scrimmage, it was almost axiomatic around the league that no one give him a serious rush because of the gap between rusher and kicker. But, Eddie Bell, an All-America at the University of Pennsylvania who was then playing with the Eagles as a defensive halfback, had an idea Gillom could be taken. Eddie persisted. Horace dawdled. And in one season, Bell blocked two of Gillom's punts. This was one of Eddie's specialties, and because of his great speed and determination, he was always used up on the line when the opposition punted. His forte was blocking a punt when the opponent was kicking near to or behind his own goal line.

The term spread punt is derived from the fact that there is a definite distance between the guards, tackles, and ends. The guards are one and one-half yards from the center; the tackles are two yards from the guards; and the ends are three to four yards from the tackles.   The two backs up front are a yard deep in the seams between the guards and center. The spread punt formation should be used anywhere on the field except inside your own ten-yard line.

CLOSED PUNT

When a punter is forced to kick anywhere from his ten-yard line back to his own end zone, it is recommended that a team drop the spread punt and go into a closed punt formation. This is accomplished by closing the varying spreads to a uniform distance of six inches between the guards, center, tackles, and ends.

These interior linemen must close to the inside and never let their seams be broken.

The up backs have been moved to a position outside of the ends and therefore assume the ends' outside responsibilities as in the spread punt formation. Everyone else has the same duties as in the spread punt formation.

In the closed punt formation, the kicking team is sacrificing punt coverage for punt protection because of its dangerous position on the field.

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