Onside recover

Yo Andy,

I align 5 wide across the front, with the next five yds deep in the gaps, with returner back by himself in the MOF deep. I put them ALL in a basketball defensive player stance (knees bent, shoulder width feet for a good power base to explode from, and HANDS WITH PALMS UP TO BETTER FACILITATE HANDLING THE BALL AS IT COMES TO HIM. The instructions for the second line is to fill the gaps and surround the man the ball went to by getting right down on the ground with him and doing their best to keep any kicking team guy from diving into the pile and stealing the ball away!) We work diligently on this every week and the work bore fruit in our preseason opener two weeks ago when the opponent scored and had a momentum swing in their favor. They tried an onsides kick and my guy skied, pulled it in and dropped immediately to the ground. Second line closed and we had 8 guys around him. They(opponent) never laid a glove on him!!! It was a perfect onsides recovery of a well place onsides kick by their kicker. Nice to see work pay off!!!

Coach Easton

Sorry for not being clear on that point, as it is a good question. Most usually, the kicker will place the ball on the tee slanted in the direction he is going to kick, plus the entire 10 remaining players with him will most often bunch in front of the intended area for the ball to be kicked. We adjust our splits accordingly to how they align. No, it is not a common thing to be spread across the field in a normal fashion when expecting an onsides attempt. Some teams will try various techniques to suck you out of position, but the accepted method today is to line up enmasse and attack the individual player or spot the ball is intended for. Hope this helps.

Coach Easton

Thanks for the replies coaches. We'll try that kicking tee trick Taft suggested.
Coach Easton, we use NCAA rules so the kicking team has to keep at least four defenders on each side of the kicker. That means the maximum amount of players that can overload is six.

Do we align with six opposite their six? Or try to sneak an extra man over?
Should we line up somebody opposite the kicker in case he tries to recover it himself?
Should we leave a returner deep? Just one?

Any suggestions?