How to Punt a Football: Technique, Drops and Drills

The one thing that matters most: the drop. Not leg strength, not approach, not follow-through. If the ball leaves your hands wrong, nothing your leg does afterwards can rescue the punt. Most punting problems are drop problems wearing a disguise.

This guide covers the full motion, why the drop dominates everything, how to build hangtime, and the drills that fix the faults you are most likely to have.

Punting vs Place Kicking

People assume a punter and a kicker do similar jobs. They really do not.

That last row is the crux. A place kicker gets the same ball position every time from a tee. A punter creates their own ball position on every single attempt. It is the single largest source of inconsistency in punting.

A place kicker’s ball never moves before contact. A punter’s ball is falling through the air. That is why the drop is everything.

The Grip

Right-footed punters hold the ball primarily in the right hand, with the left hand steadying it.

• Right hand under the ball, roughly at the middle, fingers spread along the seam
• Left hand lightly on the side for balance — it guides, it does not grip
• Nose of the ball angled slightly down and inward toward your kicking foot
• Laces up, away from your foot — you want to strike the smooth panel, not the laces
• Held out in front, roughly waist to chest height, arms comfortably extended

The Drop — The Whole Game

If you fix one thing, fix this.

What a good drop looks like

• The ball is placed, not tossed. Your hands guide it down and release. Any upward flick adds spin and unpredictability.
• It falls flat and level, holding the angle you set with your hands.
• The distance is short. The less time the ball spends in the air, the less can go wrong. Release close to your contact point.
• It is identical every time. Same height, same angle, same release point.

What goes wrong

Steps and Approach

Most punters use a two-step or two-and-a-half-step approach. Longer approaches add power but cost consistency and take too long against a real rush.

1. Catch and set. Receive the snap, bring the ball to your grip position immediately. Every wasted moment is rush closing.
2. Step one — kicking-side foot. A short, controlled step.
3. Step two — plant foot. Lands firmly, taking your weight, roughly pointing at your target.
4. Drop and swing together. The drop happens as your kicking leg comes through, not before it.
5. Contact out in front, at roughly knee to thigh height on the drop.
6. Follow through up and through, finishing high.

Contact

Punt contact differs from place kick contact in both surface and location.

• Strike with the instep — the flat bony area on top of your foot, slightly toward the inside.
• Ankle locked and pointed, exactly as with place kicking. A loose ankle bleeds power.
• Hit the sweet spot — the smooth panel of the ball, not the laces.
• Contact out in front of your body, not underneath you.
• Leg travels up and through, finishing high — some punters finish above head height.

Distance vs Hangtime

Punting has the same trade-off as kickoffs, and the same answer: hangtime usually matters more than raw distance.

Think about what each one gives the returner. A long punt with poor hangtime lets them catch the ball in space while your coverage team is still running. A slightly shorter punt with high hangtime lets coverage arrive at the same moment the ball does — often forcing a fair catch or an immediate tackle.

Net punting average — distance minus return yardage — is the metric coaches actually care about. A punter who kicks it 40 yards with great hangtime and no return beats one who kicks 50 and gives up 20.

Punt Types

Standard punt

Maximum distance with good hangtime. Your default.

Directional punt

Aimed toward a sideline to shrink the returner’s available field. Adjust your aim line and body alignment rather than trying to slice the ball.

Pooch punt

A short, very high punt used near the opponent’s end of the field. Higher drop angle, less power, maximum hangtime so coverage can down it inside the 10.

Rugby-style punt

A rolling approach where the punter moves laterally before kicking. Buys time against pressure, and produces awkward bouncing balls. Increasingly common, requires separate practice.

6 Punting Drills

1. Drop-only drill. No kicking at all. Twenty drops, letting the ball hit the ground. Watch whether it lands flat and in the same spot. This is the highest-value punting drill and almost nobody does it.
2. One-step punts. Fifteen punts from a single step. Removes momentum so drop and contact quality are exposed.
3. Hangtime ladder. Ten punts, timing each. Chase your own average.
4. Sideline targets. Cones near each sideline, five punts to each. Builds directional control.
5. Two-second clock. Have someone time from snap to contact. If you are over two seconds, shorten your approach.
6. Pooch practice. Ten short high punts aiming to land inside a marked 10-yard zone. Rarely practised, frequently needed.

Common Mistakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I keep shanking punts?

Almost certainly your drop. A shank happens when the ball has rotated or drifted sideways before your foot arrives, so you catch it off the side rather than through the sweet spot.

Do the drop-only drill: twenty drops with no kick, watching whether the ball lands flat in the same spot each time. Film it from the side in slow motion. The fault is usually obvious once you look.

How many steps should a punter take?

Two, or two and a half. Longer approaches generate more power but cost consistency and take too long against a live rush.

Time yourself from snap to contact — the standard target is around two seconds. If you are slower than that, shorten the approach.

Is punting the same as kicking?

No. A place kicker strikes a stationary ball with the top of the foot from a short approach. A punter strikes a falling ball with the instep, controls their own ball position, and is judged on hangtime and field position rather than accuracy through uprights.

Some athletes do both, but they are genuinely separate skills requiring separate practice.

What matters more, distance or hangtime?

Usually hangtime. Coaches judge punters on net average — distance minus return yardage. A long punt with poor hangtime lets the returner catch in space and often produces a worse net result than a shorter, higher punt.

Track both together and optimise the combination.

Where should I strike the ball?

With your instep — the flat bony area on top of your foot, slightly toward the inside — on the smooth panel of the ball, not the laces. Keep the ankle locked and pointed.

Contact should happen out in front of your body, at roughly knee to thigh height.

Diagnosing Your Punt From the Ball Flight

Because the drop causes most punting problems, the ball flight tells you what your hands did. Work backwards from what you see.

Notice that five of the six point at the drop. That is not a coincidence — it is the reason the drop-only drill is the most valuable thing a punter can practise.

The Drop-Only Drill in Detail

Since it matters this much, here is how to run it properly rather than casually.

1. Take your normal stance and grip. Everything identical to a real punt except that you will not kick.
2. Go through your steps. The drop happens in motion during a real punt, so practising it standing still trains something different.
3. Release the ball as you normally would and let it fall to the ground untouched.
4. Watch where and how it lands. You want it landing flat, in the same spot, with the same orientation, every single time.
5. Twenty reps, filmed from the side. The camera catches rotation your eye will miss.
6. Only progress to kicking once the ball lands consistently. Kicking an inconsistent drop just embeds compensations.

Punting in Bad Weather

Punting is more weather-sensitive than placekicking because the ball is unsupported before contact and spends longer in the air.

• Wind on the drop. Strong wind can move the ball between release and contact. Shorten your drop distance so there is less time for it to be affected.
• Rain. A wet ball is slippery in the hands and off the foot. Grip pressure and drop consistency both suffer; expect reduced hangtime.
• Cold. Hands lose feel, which directly degrades the drop. Gloves help punters more than kickers for exactly this reason.
• Crosswind. Aim into it and accept drift. Fighting it mid-swing produces a shank.

Our Weather Impact Planner covers adjustments across conditions.

Operation Timing and Protection

A punt is a team play on a clock. Understanding the timing helps you see why a shorter approach is not a compromise but a requirement.

If your operation runs slower than roughly two seconds, you will get punts blocked regardless of how good they are. Time yourself with a partner and a phone stopwatch. If you are over, the fix is almost always fewer or shorter steps rather than rushing the ones you have.

Building a Punting Week

The daily drop reps take three minutes and need no field — a garden or hallway works. It is the highest return-per-minute practice available to a punter.

Directional Punting in Depth

Placing a punt is what separates a useful punter from a merely powerful one, because a 45-yard punt to the sideline often beats a 55-yard punt down the middle.

1. Change your aim line, not your swing. Set your body and approach toward the target area. Do not try to slice or hook the ball — that costs distance and consistency and produces shanks.
2. Adjust your drop angle slightly. A marginally different nose angle influences which way the ball turns in flight, but keep the change small.
3. Aim for the sideline, not the corner. Corners are low-percentage. Pinning the returner against a sideline achieves most of the benefit with far less risk.
4. Practise both directions. Most punters are markedly better toward one side. Find out which, then work the weaker one.
5. Communicate with coverage. They set their lanes based on where you are aiming. A directional punt nobody expects is worse than a normal one.

The Pooch Punt

A short, very high punt used when you are close to the opponent’s end zone and a normal punt would sail into the end zone for a touchback.

• Reduce power, maximise height. You want maximum hangtime over a short distance so coverage can down it inside the 10.
• Flatten the drop to encourage lift rather than drive.
• Aim to land inside the 10, not at the goal line — leave margin.
• Practise ten a week. It comes up several times a season and is technically distinct from a normal punt.

Rugby-Style and Rollout Punting

Increasingly common, and worth understanding even if it is not your default.

The punter takes the snap and moves laterally before kicking, rather than punting from a fixed spot. The advantages are real: it buys time against pressure, it lets you punt away from the rush, and the resulting ball often bounces awkwardly and rolls, adding yards.

The costs are also real. It takes longer, requires coordination with your protection, and is a genuinely separate skill needing its own practice. It also makes hangtime harder to control, which matters if your coverage relies on it.

If your team wants it, treat it as an additional skill with its own weekly reps rather than something you can improvise from your standard technique.

Master the drop and the rest of punting becomes a matter of refinement rather than repair.

Keep Going

This guide is general technique information, not individual coaching. If you experience pain while punting, stop and consult a qualified professional.