with Tom Radke,
St. James Academy (KS) Head Football Coach & Special Teams Coordinator;
2020 & 2021 Kansas 4A State High School Football Champions;
2020 & 2021 Kansas 4A Football Coach of the Year;
2020 Kansas City Chiefs’ Eric Driskell Coach of the Year;
Piper High School (KS) Head Coach from 2006 to 2010;
St. Thomas Aquinas (KS) Assistant Coach from 2004 to 2005;
played college football for Iowa State University
Punting is perhaps the most overlooked play in all of football. Consider the following scenario: On the heels of a failed offensive drive, your offense comes off the field, and the momentum has clearly swung toward the opposing team, as their defenders’ head to the sideline fist-pumping in celebration of their defensive stop.
Your punt-team unit comes onto the field for fourth down. On the ensuing snap, your punter strikes a booming punt with great hang time – the opposing team’s punt-returner backpedals with no hope of fielding the ball, watching helplessly as the ball sails over his head and rolls backward before coming to a stop. The end-result is a field-tilting punt that just pinned your opponent deep, leaving them with poor field position.
In an instant, your punter has just singlehandedly swung the field-position game back in your team’s favor, ending your opponent’s momentum after a single play. Conversely, a blocked punt or big-time punt return in that same scenario may cause a catastrophic chain of events that your team never recovers from.
Tom Radke, head football coach at St. James Academy, serves in a dual-role capacity as head football coach and special teams coordinator, a testament to the importance Coach Radke places on the special teams’ phase of the game.
In this instructional coaching video, Radke shares his approach to developing a top-notch punting game – both in punt coverage and punt returns – providing key strategies to help you build rock-solid, special teams across the board.
Special Teams’ Overview, Developing a Punt-Team Plan
Coach Radke provides a detailed summary of St. James Academy football, the importance of building a winning culture and their dedication to playing ‘Physical, Fast, Fearless Football’ in all three phases of the game. Radke also provides his thought process as he begins to construct his special teams plan prior to every season and offers statistical insight on the important role that field position plays during games.
Next, Radke shares an in-depth description that outlines the duties and responsibilities of a special teams coordinator, as well as how he organizes special teams practice segments on an annual, weekly and daily basis.
Providing a deep-dive look at how he develops his punt team units – in terms of both return teams and punt coverage units – Coach Radke provides a wealth of information on punt-team related topics, including: how he handles on-field special teams’ huddles, the sideline signal system used to communicate with the punter, planning potential punt fakes and more.
Punt-Game: Best-of-the-Best Tactics
Drilling down on the specifics of potential punt situations, Coach Radke outlines a fourth down ‘QB Roll-Out, Punt-Pass Option’ play he installs that’s ready to use in short or medium down-and-distance situations.
Using a highly effective teaching combination of diagrams, explanations and game-film examples, Radke shows how to execute this possible punt-fake. On fourth down, the QB stays on the field and aligns in the shotgun. On the snap, the QB is poised to roll out to his right, looking to either run for the first-down marker, hit one of the receivers on a pass route or execute a rugby-style punt while on the run. In this situation, the defense almost always aligns itself without a punt returner to focus on stopping any possible fourth-down conversion attempt. Without a returner set up deep, even a poor rugby punt by the sprinting QB usually sails over the defense and into the cleared field. At that point, a fortuitous bounce and roll may pin your opponent’s deep. In the best-case scenario, you’ll gain the first-down yardage necessary to move the chains.
Coach Radke explains that even though your punter never sets foot onto the field during the QB punt-pass option play, the fourth-down situation still falls under the jurisdiction of the special teams coordinator. As such, it’s imperative that you build time into your ST practice plans to rep the play and work on executing it.
Other punt-team topics covered in this section of the video include: an effective punt-block call, swarming punt coverages, an explosive punt-return package and key coaching points to improve techniques specific to the punt game.
With the information covered by Coach Radke in this excellent special teams coaching video, you’ll never short shrift your punt game in terms of time or attention. This video provides highly valuable special teams information that will help coaches at all levels of football!
54 minutes. 2025.