Punter of the Week is back again this year. The only new twist on the feature will be occasional inclusion of punters at levels of the game other than professional. TSR turns to the college ranks to start the 2013 football season.
If it’s fourth and long, definitely be ready for a long snap and the most consistently beautiful play in sports.
TSR’s Punter of the Week:
Darragh O’Neill – University of Colorado Buffaloes
Who is he?
O’Neill is a 21-year-old Irishman born in Cork and raised in the United States from age three. He kicks the ball with both legs although all but two of his punts last season were with the right foot. Darragh’s brother Shane is a starting midfielder/defender for the Colorado Rapids of the MLS and one of the better young players in the under-20 US soccer program. Darragh’s Dad Colm owns a tavern in Boulder. Despite a brilliant high school sports career in Boulder (all-state honors in basketball and honorable mention all-state in soccer), Darragh went to Colorado without an athletic scholarship. Prior to his sophomore year (fall 2011), O’Neill walked on to the football team and has been the starting punter ever since. His name is on the 25-man preseason watch list for the Ray Guy award which goes to the nation’s best collegiate punter. Darragh’s name is pronounced “DAR-UH.” His Twitter page (@Darraghneill8) suggests a level of maturity beyond his years.
The O’Neill stat line vs. Colorado State – 9-1-13:
8 punts. 340 yards total. Avg. 42.5 yards per. 28.5 net.
The punts in detail:
1. O’Neill’s first punt came six minutes into the game on 4th and long with his team up a touchdown. The game was played on a neutral field at Mile High in Denver, home of the Broncos. Wearing uniform #8, O’Neill was fidgety as he waited for the snap. He jumped up and down, flexed his legs and popped his mouth-guard halfway out of his mouth just before receiving the football. The Buffs use a three-man deep-blocker formation to form a small wall six-yards in front of O’Neill and about seven-yards behind the line of scrimmage. The snap appeared to sail through a gap in the blocking wall. O’Neill’s first punt was a good one. It traveled 58 years in the air. Gunner Ryan Severson missed the tackle on return man Joe Hansley which allowed an eighteen-yard run upfield. Officially, it was a 48-yard punt. 30 on the net. Severson must bring Hansley down in that spot. O’Neill was credited with an assist on the tackle that brought down Hansley. As he emerged from the scrum after the play, he appeared to throw a little elbow at Hansley in a way that was within the bounds of good sportsmanship. It was flash of feistiness. The little extra love tap probably made O’Neill feel like more like a free safety than a punter.
2. With the wind no factor, O’Neill let his second punt ride the sky. His form is smooth. Going the other direction early in the second quarter, this one looked much like his first kick but this time Severson put the claws around Hansley’s waist and brought him down immediately. A 46-yarder with no return.
3. Halfway through the second quarter, O’Neill came on after Colorado’s offense sputtered at midfield. State offered no rush, perhaps respecting the three-man wall, and O’Neill over-punted it. The ball landed in the end zone. 47 yards on the punt but the touchback reduced the net to 27.
4. More missed tackles on an O’Neill punt and this time it was very costly. Up ten with two minutes gone in the third quarter, O’Neill let one rip from his own 15 yard line. Hansley caught it at his own 26 and should have been brought down in quick order. O’Neill’s hang time gave his cover guys plenty of time to get downfield. He’s not out-kicking his coverage by any stretch. But again, there were missed tackles. Both Greg Henderson and DD Goodson lost their grip on Hansley and watched the dynamic returner weave his way up the right sideline. Big State wideout Rashar Higgins threw a huge block and then Hansley put a move on O’Neill that ended with the punter flailing at him as he went to the ground. Hansley was gone. It was a 46-yard punt and a 74-yard return for six. That’s what you call a net-killer if you’re a punter. Hansley had little time to celebrate after the play. After trying to catch his breath, he walked back to the ten-yard line, crouched down and held the ball on Colorado State’s extra point attempt. Can’t really blame O’Neill for the outcome of the play although it’s clear that Hansley is dangerous once he gets going. It’s not all speed either. It’s a lot of savvy.
5. After CSU’s punt return for a TD cut the CU lead to three, the Colorado offense stalled on the ensuing drive at State’s 34. New Buffs head coach Mike MacIntyre didn’t even consider attempting the long field goal and purposely ran out the play clock so that O’Neill had more room to maneuver on his pooch. On the CBS Sports Network television broadcast, play-by-play man Dave Ryan speculated that O’Neill may opt to use his left foot. Turns out O’Neill stuck with the right and lofted it way high. Hansley signaled fair catch and hauled it in at his 9. It was 32-yard punt, no return. After the game, a reporter asked MacIntyre why he didn’t send out reliable placekicker Will Oliver for the try from 52 yards out. Said MacIntyre: “We wanted to pin them down there; he would have kicked a 52 yard field goal, at that time I thought we were playing really well on defense. If Darragh wasn’t so good at what he does, I knew he could put it down there inside the 10, he put one inside the 2 (later). Defensively I thought at that time if we pinned them down there we would have a better chance to go down and score with the better field position.”
6. I wish I could present a video clip of O’Neill’s sixth punt of the game because it was a perfect example of why the punt is such a beautiful part of football. Standing at his own 45 with 90 seconds to go in the third quarter and his team down by a point, O’Neill executed the coffin corner placement to perfection. It was a rugby-style hit off his right foot. His leg motion was sidewinder to gain greater accuracy on the trajectory. The ball bounced once at the 12-yard line and ricocheted high into the air before angling out of bounds just before the goal line marker. The field judge was on the spot and marked it just inside the two-yard line. O’Neill broke a big smile and was congratulated by several jubilant teammates including the kicker Oliver. Interestingly, the play clock expired a full tick or two before O’Neill got the punt away but the refs didn’t throw a flag. Hansley waved his arms to alert the stripes of the infraction but they appeared to ignore him. State’s head coach Jim McElwain went bonkers to no avail, too.
7. With his team up nine and nine minutes to go in the game, O’Neill came on with clear intent to keep the ball out of the hands of the dangerous Hansley. After fielding the snap inside his own 30, O’Neill darted to his right about five steps. For a moment, it appeared as if he might run with it instead. Turns out it was another rugby/sidewinder approach that you very rarely see in the pro ranks. Again the ball took a low trajectory prior to a single, harsh bounce before going out of bounds at the CSU 20. O’Neill appeared unhappy with the distance as he scampered off the to sideline but I’d say this was an excellent job when you consider the game’s circumstances. It goes in the books as a 41-yard punt with no return.
8. O’Neill’s final punt was really a special one for its oddness and effectiveness. Up 14 with 70 seconds to go, it was time to uncork the rarely-used left-footed knuckler. Man, what a weapon it is from one of the most exciting punters in the game. Standing at about his own 10-yard line, O’Neill looked like a mad scientist in a different profession as he moved to his left with the ball and used his left foot to drive the ball downfield. It hit the ground once at CSU’s 40 into the hands of returner Robert Ruiz (in for the injured Hansley). Because of the weird, wide, horizontal spin on it, Ruiz couldn’t handle it. He appeared confused by the movement and lost it to Colorado cover man Ryan Iverson. It was a 40-yard punt ending in a fumble recovery for Colorado. On the TV broadcast, analyst Adam Archuleta complimented O’Neill’s skill. “Normally, I don’t like to talk about punters and kickers…but O’Neill has done his part tonight.”
The Sound of a Punt:
Mark Johnson calls Colorado football with help from Larry Zimmer. It’s not a great tandem. Zimmer used to be the main guy for many years but now sits in the second seat. Johnson misses a lot of game detail and is slow to describe the play. His official Twitter page is oddly stacked with love for Jesus despite his very public role at a public university. KOA-AM in Denver serves as the flagship station for Buffs football carried on about ten other stations across the state. KOA is a 50-thousand watter and can be heard across much of the west on a clear night. I remember being able to pull it in on the car radio while living in Missouri. The cut below is Johnson’s butchered description of O’Neill’s final punt. Not only does he misidentify the returner (eventually the spotter corrects him), he fails to capture the uniqueness of O’Neill’s technique and the role it played on Ruiz’s struggle to catch it.
The Punt-osis:
O’Neill benefits from kicking in thin air but it’s his poise and variety of mechanics that catch your attention. His ambidextrous legs leave punt-rushers confused and his coffin-corner approach appears pin-point accurate. O’Neill is fit and not afraid to make a tackle. While Colorado State’s punter Hayden Hunt out-punted O’Neill statistically in this game, O’Neill came up big at crucial moments. I remember this intrastate rivalry being a good one from many years ago and this contest was very entertaining despite the fact CU was coming off the worst football season in the school’s history. Credit O’Neill for playing a role in ending his team’s eight-game losing streak and look for the young man to get a shot next summer at a pro training camp. If punting in the NFL doesn’t work out, O’Neill will have an accounting degree to fall back on. He’ll certainly have some stories to tell about walking onto a football team at a big time university and becoming a punter considered among the best at his level.