Andy Hutchins over at Alligator Army makes a pretty compelling case that they have, at least on a couple. On thing is for sure, Florida has managed a really large number of punt blocks over the last few years. Here's Andy:
Florida's proficiency at blocking punts since Urban Meyer came to Gainesville has been something for Gators fans to celebrate. Since 2007, the Gators have blocked 20 kicks and punts, and Chris Rainey's five blocked punts in that period are a Florida and SEC career record. But Kentucky coach Joker Phillips raised questions of foul play in talking to the Lexington Herald-Leader's John Clay on Tuesday:
Here is the Phillips quote: "Speed. Speed, you know, at which they come off. And their speed are big guys. Their linebackers and defensive ends are on their punt team. We’ve got receivers and DBs on our punt team to try and get that speed on the field. They’ve got big guys pulling this guy that way, and this guy thata way and a little fast guy with world-class speed comes up the middle to block it. And you can’t get off the block. We’ve got to punch them in the mouth when they try to grab you and get their hands off of you and come off and block the little guy that tries to split the gap."
So what this is saying is that the defensive linemen are pulling the blockers aside to create a gap for the punt blocker to get through.
Nice work by John Clay to expose this bit of football malpractice, which I'm sure has been brought to the attention of the league and the officials by now. But not all Florida's blocks were illegal, so Kentucky must be at their best on special teams this weekend to prevent getting killed there.
Louisville blocked on on us last week, and although I haven't reviewed the video, I'm pretty sure it was just the poor blocking on punts that UK has become kind of infamous for lately. That needs to change.
Hey, Greg Nord! How 'bout addressing this problem, eh? Little help?