With the goal in mind to improve upon last year’s special teams performance, coordinator Charles Huff hit the road this off-season to learn from coaches in the NFL.
Whether he chose teams based on previous professional connections or units that enjoyed a high level of success in kickoffs, punts, returns and field goals, Huff visited various professional programs in order to pick up on their methods. Among the teams he visited include the New Orlean Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets.
This off-season head coach James Franklin told his staff that special teams "was an area ... that we felt like we could make the biggest improvement on." So Huff wanted to do his part to help that come to fruition.
“I did a world tour,” Huff said on Thursday’s morning conference call with reporters. “I went to about seven places. It was just an opportunity to go and pick up some new ideas, pick up some new ways to say things, pick up some new ways to organize things. A lot of it was verification of, hey, we are doing it the right way. It’s just going to take time.”
While visiting with the professional coaches, Huff asked them to evaluate Penn State’s special teams performance from a year ago and then suggest changes for year two based off of personnel. He also listened in on meetings in order to learn new vernacular to use when teaching certain concepts and technique to his players back in State College.
Upon his return, Huff said the biggest challenge was deliberating with PSU’s coaching staff about what exactly they could implement with the Nittany Lions’ youth-heavy roster without mentally overwhelming the players.
“You get so much and then you come back with the staff and you have to figure out what can we install and what can we give to our players without filling up their heads too much,” Huff said, adding that the trip was “a good way to bounce ideas off of (NFL coaches) and get verification that, hey, we are doing it the right way. Hey, we were doing it the right way, but we didn’t do this, so lets try this. It was very helpful for me, very helpful for our staff to get back to those ideas and thoughts. Some of them we used; some of them we are holding onto for later down the road.”
Whether he chose teams based on previous professional connections or units that enjoyed a high level of success in kickoffs, punts, returns and field goals, Huff visited various professional programs in order to pick up on their methods. Among the teams he visited include the New Orlean Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets.
This off-season head coach James Franklin told his staff that special teams "was an area ... that we felt like we could make the biggest improvement on." So Huff wanted to do his part to help that come to fruition.
“I did a world tour,” Huff said on Thursday’s morning conference call with reporters. “I went to about seven places. It was just an opportunity to go and pick up some new ideas, pick up some new ways to say things, pick up some new ways to organize things. A lot of it was verification of, hey, we are doing it the right way. It’s just going to take time.”
While visiting with the professional coaches, Huff asked them to evaluate Penn State’s special teams performance from a year ago and then suggest changes for year two based off of personnel. He also listened in on meetings in order to learn new vernacular to use when teaching certain concepts and technique to his players back in State College.
Upon his return, Huff said the biggest challenge was deliberating with PSU’s coaching staff about what exactly they could implement with the Nittany Lions’ youth-heavy roster without mentally overwhelming the players.
“You get so much and then you come back with the staff and you have to figure out what can we install and what can we give to our players without filling up their heads too much,” Huff said, adding that the trip was “a good way to bounce ideas off of (NFL coaches) and get verification that, hey, we are doing it the right way. Hey, we were doing it the right way, but we didn’t do this, so lets try this. It was very helpful for me, very helpful for our staff to get back to those ideas and thoughts. Some of them we used; some of them we are holding onto for later down the road.”
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