Coordinator's Corner: Special teams coordinator Tony Levine
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Purdue's tight ends had a productive game vs. Illinois, with four receptions and a touchdown.
The special teams was a mixed bag, with three field goals but a turnover and poor punt return judgement.
We talked to Tony Levine, the coach in charge of both the tight ends and special teams, after practice on Tuesday.
GoldandBlack.com: Did you like the production you got from your tight ends on Saturday?
Levine: "I did. With Cole (Herdman) coming back off an injury, it was good to see him out there full speed and Darius Pittman was able to play the most snaps he's played all season. He played 17 snaps on offense and did a great job, so it was good to get him in the rotation and good to get Cole back and obviously catching the touchdown pass, and I thought Brycen Hopkins maybe didn't have the production, nothing necessarily his fault, in the games leading up to it, but caught some very key balls for us in this last game, some difficult catches, one as we slowed it down really a one-handed catch over the middle. It was good to get him back on track, if you will, in the passing game."
GoldandBlack.com: Jeff Brohm said that you guys pushed those particular routes, the Hopkins' catches, down the field farther. Describe that and the reasoning behind it.
Levine: "Well, we run a lot of crossing routes in our offense and some are what we would term more shallow, four- to six-yards down the field. If you're running those and playing a team that's covering you man-to-man, now you've those defenders with you and linebackers in the box. Then, we have deeper crossing routes, sometimes as deep as 15-yards, but somewhere in the 10-to-15-yard range where maybe you get over the top of those inside linebackers and get a little bit more separation, so that's what worked better for us in terms of getting Brycen Hopkins free over the middle."
GoldandBlack.com: And he beat the man coverage.
Levine: "He did. Those were all man coverage. One time we had a play-action off the man, which their defender took his eyes off of Brycen because the play-action was at him and he was really free down the middle. A couple times, there were defenders on him and he did a good job of using his technique at the top of the route and getting additional separation and the ball was delivered really well."
GoldandBlack.com: As you said, Pittman was in more. What have you liked about his development?
Levine: "... He's a true freshman, just turned 18 at the end of July, so to learn this offense as complex as it is for the tight end position in this short of time has been tremendous. I give him a lot of credit in that respect. And if you don't know his story, he was really a receiver in high school, so this is the first time he's been in a three-point stance with his hand in the ground, his first time he's had to block defensive ends, and he's doing really a great job. He has a tremendous future ahead of him at this position."
Q: Your kickers, Spencer Evans and J.D. Dellinger, do you feel like they're in a pretty good rhythm right now?
Levine: "I do, yes. We haven't missed a field goal or extra point in the last three games, and I think they're confidence is as high as it's been all season. Really, I think the whole operation of the snap and hold and then Spencer and J.D. being confident in trusting their ability, confident in trusting their technique and all the training they've done to this point, I think it's really paying off now. Whether it's the rotation at extra point or field goal, they're comfortable with it and they're confidence regardless of the length of the kick or the hash it's on or the conditions whether-wise, they feel really good right now."
Q: The last maybe three or four games, I think you're getting more out of the kick return. Are you getting better production there? And if so, why is that?
Levine: "Well, why it is, I think it's because I've simplified a little bit. At this point of the season, I've really been able to identify the guys who can do the front-line blocks, the single blocks and guys that are in the back end can kind of navigate through everyone running at them and who they are assigned to block. With reps and game experience and certainly with practice, those young men have become more comfortable with doing their jobs. I felt like in a couple games, where I've tried to do too much as a coach and scheme too much, we've taken a little bit of a step back, so being able to simplify and making sure our young men know their assignments, first and foremost, and again because of all the times they've now done these techniques, being comfortable with what they're assigned to do in terms of these blocks in our schemes, we've had more success lately.
"Now, it's not as consistent as I'd like it to be. The first kickoff return, for instance, against Illinois, we had nine blocks perfect. They kicked it across the field to Richie Worship, which I love, and we missed one block and we got tackled right on the 20-yard line. If we that one block, it's going to be Richie Worship one-on-one on their kicker, which is a matchup I like. At the end of the day, we jog off the field and our offense runs on at about the 22-yard line. Instead, if we get that one, we might be kicking an extra point. So we've still got a ways to go consistency wise, but we are getting a lot closer."
GoldandBlack.com: You like Worship there. He is an atypical kick return man.
Levine: "I would agree with that statement. The things that he does well — he's 255, 260 pounds, he runs extremely hard and he's got, what he's shown us on offense, is great vision. So, there's not a lot of guys on kickoff teams with his size and I think there's some guys on kickoff teams who really wouldn't want to tackle him running full speed. I've used the term fearless before on kick returner and when he sees it, he's running as fast as he can run and we've seen him hurdle players at times this season. I'm comfortable right now with them kicking it to D.J. Knox or Richie and we've just got to adjust how we handle those kicks, whether it be to our right or to our left.
"I was reminded by a couple of our coaches, when I saw the approach of the first kickoff by Illinois' kicker, I could tell they were kicking it deep to our left by his approach. And I said on the headset, before he kicked it, 'They're kicking it to Richie, and that's good.' They reminded me after the game that I said that, and nothing against D.J., I'd love them to kick to D.J. too, but some teams will try to kick to what I call the off-returner, and the way Richie has played this year, we have two tremendous returners back there."
GoldandBlack.com: What rules did Jackson Anthrop violate when he caught the punt on the four-yard-line?
Levine: "Well, technically, it was the three, not to correct you, but they did spot it at the four.
"People coach that differently and I'm sure fans have their own opinion on how to coach that. Once the ball gets inside the 45-yard-line and it was at the 43, we're going to put him on the eight-yard-line and really not have him back up. I feel like once the ball is punted from inside the 45, if you're on the 10-yard line, two things: Some people will say put him on the 10 and he can take two steps back, but then the two could become three and maybe a fourth, so I like a little more concrete of a rule, although it didn't appear like we had any rules in this last game on the one. So inside the 45, we're going to put him on the eight and tell him not to back up.
"When I watched the video — and he and I talked about this and actually practiced it Sunday night — as soon as the ball was punted, he signaled fair catch, immediately, and he actually stepped forward, so I think he lost a little bit of track of where he was. And then he expressed to me, he felt it was still coming down around the eight or seven, and he started to back up and kind of lost track of truly where he was. He felt like the ball was drifting and once he had the ball in his arms, he realized at that point he had made an error. We're going to all make mistakes and we certainly don't want to catch the ball at the three- or four-yard-line, but when it's kicked from that close, we're going to put him on the eight and tell him not to back up."
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