STrib: Claeys doesn't regret benching Mortell

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BleedGopher

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per Joe:

Gophers interim coach Tracy Claeys on Sunday stood by his decision not to use All-Big Ten punter Peter Mortell for a key punt in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 29-26 loss to Michigan.

The Gophers led 26-21 with about nine minutes remaining, when Claeys inserted Ryan Santoso for his first career punt. He was standing in the end zone, with the ball at the 11-yard line, and his punt went out of bounds at the Minnesota 40. That set up Michigan’s go-ahead touchdown.

Mortell was seen in sweatpants on the sideline, but Claeys said the decision wasn’t injury-related.

“[Mortell] did have a leg injury the previous week, but he punted all this week,” Claeys said. “The reason we changed is off his [second] punt, he didn’t put the ball where he’s supposed to. It’s been a problem.”

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-notes-claeys-doesn-t-regret-benching-mortell/339179061/

Go Gophers!!
 

That's where his personality is exactly like Jerry Kill's, stubborn.
Stupid discipline decisions, but heck, we're gonna make these kids pay for
those mistakes even if it costs us the game, the jug and Claeys potential job.....
 

I'm late to the punter replacement party, but why do people think this is such a big deal and so impactful to the game?
 

I'm not sure which I disagree with more - benching Mortell or using Santoso.

Mortell has been much less consistent this year - a lot more line drive punts that get good returns and as Coach Claeys mentioned poor placement. His stats look ok (although I'd bet his net is much lower than last year), but watching the games I've been a little disappointed.

So, based on that, was Santoso really the backup punter? They have two other punters on the roster - Logan McElfresh and Jacob Herbers. Maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't they be kicking more punts in practice than Santoso? If you were concerned about Mortell's performance why wasn't one of the two of them ready? And please don't use the red-shirt argument with Herbers. If they're willing to burn one on an alleged stud QB to run a couple meaningless drives in games that were out of hand, burning a punter's shouldn't have even been a consideration.

Also, by benching him in the game just to prove a point are you really putting your team in the best position to win? Why not let him punt then elevate one of the other punters for next week.

That was a really questionable decision in my book on both fronts.
 

Section2 said:
I'm late to the punter replacement party, but why do people think this is such a big deal and so impactful to the game?
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Agree. A non-issue if not for a 29 yard punt by replacement.
 


Section2 said:
I'm late to the punter replacement party, but why do people think this is such a big deal and so impactful to the game?
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Because Santoso's punt was 29 yards and gave Michigan the ball with 40 yards to go for the winning touchdown, which they got. Mortell was averaging around 40 yards a punt, would have at least pinned them in their own territory, assuming he got a talking to on the sidelines following his low kick and put some height on the ball to limit the return.
 

Go4fan4ever said:
Because Santoso's punt was 29 yards and gave Michigan the ball with 40 yards to go for the winning touchdown, which they got. Mortell was averaging around 40 yards a punt, would have at least pinned them in their own territory, assuming he got a talking to on the sidelines following his low kick and put some height on the ball to limit the return.
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Yup. Coach him up and inspire him to do his job,which everyone knows he can. Stupid call by Claeys.
 

I don't see what the big deal is. Players get benched all the time, especially for turnovers. How many times does an RB get yanked when them fumble the ball? Mortell's first punt was essentially a turnover....and it wasn't his first lousy one this year.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
I don't see what the big deal is. Players get benched all the time, especially for turnovers. How many times does an RB get yanked when them fumble the ball? Mortell's first punt was essentially a turnover....and it wasn't his first lousy one this year.
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The big deal is the timing and the situation. Santoso hadn't had a single punt in his entire college career. Since he redshirted, and is now a sophomore, it means he hasn't taken a live snap punt in an actual game since 2012. Then his first snap is in the end zone in the 4th quarter against one of the better teams in the nation with an incredible environment?! Yea, no big deal. Just like a RB losing a carry to another RB.
 



I've heard that Santoso's punting in practice has been fairly impressive (especially the height of his punts). Can anyone speak to this? I'm guessing he just hit a partial shank. If he had hit a high 40-yarder with a fair catch, there would be no issues with the benching of Mortell.
 

Randall Cunningham once came into a game to replace a punter and kicked the ball 42,983 yards.
 

Stubborness is not a good quality - common sense is, along with flexibility. That punt decision may have cost the Gophers the game. Rarely do you see a punter pulled for one bad punt.
 

Donovan said:
I've heard that Santoso's punting in practice has been fairly impressive (especially the height of his punts). Can anyone speak to this? I'm guessing he just hit a partial shank. If he had hit a high 40-yarder with a fair catch, there would be no issues with the benching of Mortell.
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I've seen many of the beat guys mention Santoso being a very strong punter in practice as well and had no problem with Claeys making the move. Mortell has been pretty good when we are in + territory of putting it inside the 20 but he has struggled this year in the open field not only with distance but also not getting much hang time to allow the coverage team to get down the field.
 



So we are comfortable blaming an assumed 10 yards of field position for losing the game? If mortell hits a returnable punt, I don't think a 30 yard net is a given.
To me this is a bit of a non issue, especially given the glaring reasons we lost the game. this isn't one. BBC got beat for the TD and we couldn't stop the 2 pointer. 10 yards doesn't seem like an obvious reason we lost, but hey, we pick things apart here I guess.
 

Mortell has been really inconsistent this season. I don't really agree with the benching because you "dance with the horse you rode in on (I think the saying goes like that)," but Mortell hasn't been in Ray Guy-like form in 2015 so I can see why Claeys made the decision.
 

I disagree with that move. Crucial situation, crucial punt. I think that's Claeys' personality though. One of the differences, he's more aggressive than Kill, and I like that fact, just disagree in this case.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

El Amin Fan said:
The big deal is the timing and the situation. Santoso hadn't had a single punt in his entire college career. Since he redshirted, and is now a sophomore, it means he hasn't taken a live snap punt in an actual game since 2012. Then his first snap is in the end zone in the 4th quarter against one of the better teams in the nation with an incredible environment?! Yea, no big deal. Just like a RB losing a carry to another RB.
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Especially when Michigan had NO momentum after losing their QB. Their offense had done nothing since the injury The bad punt ended up being the shot in the arm that their offense needed. It was the one drive where their backup QB did something, in part because he only had to go 40 yards. Give them an extra 10, maybe 20 yards to go and maybe they don't get the TD. It was just the absolute wrong time to try that out.
 

It was not a snap decision. At halftime, when the special teams players come out to warm up, Santoso was punting. Sounds like Claeys made up his mind before halftime.
 

goldy93 said:
It was not a snap decision. At halftime, when the special teams players come out to warm up, Santoso was punting. Sounds like Claeys made up his mind before halftime.
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Santoso was punting a ton in pre-game warm-ups. In fact I kept looking for Mortell to be practicing and remember wondering if he wasn't injured. I'm guessing the staff was concerned about how Mortell was punting that week in practice (maybe in part due to injury?) in light of the dangers Peppers presented and then after the mistake, took the risk the other way.
 

One of three critical mistakes - the other two being the 17-second clock mismanagement, and the biggest of all, running into the stacked stone wall of the no. 2 defense-against-the-run team with a QB "sneak" when we could have easily kicked a field goal to continue in overtime against Michigan's backup QB. But Claeys is still young, 47 in December, so perhaps he'll learn from his mistakes.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
One of three critical mistakes - the other two being the 17-second clock mismanagement, and the biggest of all, running into the stacked stone wall of the no. 2 defense-against-the-run team with a QB "sneak" when we could have easily kicked a field goal to continue in overtime against Michigan's backup QB. But Claeys is still young, 47 in December, so perhaps he'll learn from his mistakes.
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Ya, "biggest of all" after it didn't work. As someone has already wisely pointed out, people are judging the wiseness of the move after the fact. It's a fricken foot. Michigan's backup QB hit what? 4 passes in a row, 2 of which were damn nice passes, to go ahead. We don't want to try to get a foot against the no. 2 defense-against-the-run-team, but we're just going to score at will if we go to OT? Mitch played great and I've defended him, but I'd guess the odds of him turning it over are just as great as Michigan's backup QB urning it over. Plus, as well as Smith was running, I'd still take Peppers over him if it went into OT and you know damn well Harbaugh would have used him. It wasn't a no-brainer like so many keep pounding on. It didn't turn out right, but that doesn't mean it was the biggest mistake. I don't know what I would have done, but glad Claeys owns it and that he says he'd do it again.
 

This thread is all hindsight. No one should be above benching. PM37 has been an issue this year, including earlier in the game. TC didn't want to see another line drive to Peppers. Makes sense to me.

Yes, Santoso is the backup Punter.
 

I don't think it's hindsight at all and I am truly baffled that some posters don't see this as a big deal. To me, a short punt with no return was one of the better outcomes of deciding to give a kid his first live punt from deep in your own territory in the 4th quarter of a one score game. Would anyone have been surprised if Santoso dropped his first live snap? Got the punt blocked? Drilled a line drive that gets returned for a score? I don't disagree with the notion that Mortell hasn't been good punting the football, but the risk/reward of changing punters in that spot seems crazily imbalanced towards sticking with experience.

It's interesting that they made a change at punter in that spot, but seemingly keep trying the same thing on punt return every time. There were 3 pretty pathetic punt returns by the Gophers in this game, including a near fumble. It's pretty conservative to put two returners back there and just let the ball roll...kind of the opposite strategy of what they did with their own punting situation.
 

goldy93 said:
It was not a snap decision. At halftime, when the special teams players come out to warm up, Santoso was punting. Sounds like Claeys made up his mind before halftime.
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Doubtful. Mortel punted twice in the third quarter.
 

my guess is Mortell popped off at a coach previously to being replaced. speculation but that is the normal path to benching. and good staffs never talk about it with the media.
 

EG#9 said:
I don't think it's hindsight at all and I am truly baffled that some posters don't see this as a big deal. To me, a short punt with no return was one of the better outcomes of deciding to give a kid his first live punt from deep in your own territory in the 4th quarter of a one score game. Would anyone have been surprised if Santoso dropped his first live snap? Got the punt blocked? Drilled a line drive that gets returned for a score? I don't disagree with the notion that Mortell hasn't been good punting the football, but the risk/reward of changing punters in that spot seems crazily imbalanced towards sticking with experience.

It's interesting that they made a change at punter in that spot, but seemingly keep trying the same thing on punt return every time. There were 3 pretty pathetic punt returns by the Gophers in this game, including a near fumble. It's pretty conservative to put two returners back there and just let the ball roll...kind of the opposite strategy of what they did with their own punting situation.
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It's not like punting can't be simulated in practice. Sure there is more pressure in the game, but Ryan sees plenty of that as a kicker. This isn't some slouch we are talking about - Ryan is their backup punter and practices it for hours every week. The coaches know what he can do and didn't want a repeat of Mortell's earlier punt that also basically cost us a TD due to the short field. He has been doing that all year and I have no doubt he has in practice too. If an OL keeps getting burned you bring in someone else if you have a good option. No different here. This subject is being way overblown because Santoso didn't have a great kick. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mortell result would have been similar. Hindsight. Non story. So not why we lost the game.
 

Spoofin said:
It's not like punting can't be simulated in practice. Sure there is more pressure in the game, but Ryan sees plenty of that as a kicker. This isn't some slouch we are talking about - Ryan is their backup punter and practices it for hours every week. The coaches know what he can do and didn't want a repeat of Mortell's earlier punt that also basically cost us a TD due to the short field. He has been doing that all year and I have no doubt he has in practice too. If an OL keeps getting burned you bring in someone else if you have a good option. No different here. This subject is being way overblown because Santoso didn't have a great kick. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mortell result would have been similar. Hindsight. Non story. So not why we lost the game.
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It's a pressure situation and your best players have to make plays. Mortell's our best punter. Is he 100%, no, do you bench him after 1 bad punt in a game and a few scattered over this season? Not unless you think the next guy might be better than Mortell. After Santoso's flub, it should be clear Mortell is our number 1 punter and you ride him until he can't perform. I can understand putting in Santoso if you needed to see if he could be more consistent. Doesn't look like he can. Don't do it again, short of insubordination or a real pattern of failure on Mortell's part.
 

LakerFan said:
It's a pressure situation and your best players have to make plays. Mortell's our best punter. Is he 100%, no, do you bench him after 1 bad punt in a game and a few scattered over this season? Not unless you think the next guy might be better than Mortell. <b>After Santoso's flub, it should be clear Mortell is our number 1 punter </b>and you ride him until he can't perform. I can understand putting in Santoso if you needed to see if he could be more consistent. Doesn't look like he can. Don't do it again, short of insubordination or a real pattern of failure on Mortell's part.
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so we know everything about Santoso as a Punter after 1 attempt. Got it.
 

Look. I'm not bashing PM37, all I am saying is I have no issue with this decision. We don't know all the facts and this board seems to think the PM37 of last year is still here. He is not.

We know he had a procedure done during the bye week. We know he was still struggling in practice after the procedure (TC has said as much with his comment that they worked on it for 2 weeks and he still didn't kick it where/how they wanted). We know he had a terrible line-drive/short/poorly placed punt earlier in the game that cost us.

Let's just say that is the same problem they had in practice for 2 weeks straight. Wouldn't TC have been stubborn if he ignored all that and let PM37 go out there and kick another bad punt (like he had been in practice after the procedure & earlier in the game)? If he did that and we all knew he would be getting savaged on here. His decision didn't pan out, but I totally get why he did it and have zero issues with it.
 


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