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SIAP...Returners?

Thomas, Dallas, Harley, Lingard on kick return figure it out as the season goes on. Then Thomas on punt return.
 
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I think DJ is going to be the PR for sure.. as for KR- i like the idea of trying Bethel or Lo or even Camron Davis. JT was pretty disapointing last year.
 
skeeter said:
I'm not wondering who you all think should be...Was wondering what has been reported.

OK thanks Shadowspring.
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C'mon man, you've been here long enough to know how this goes. You'll get a bunch of names thrown out, followed by people arguing about them. And this despite the fact that none of the guys mentioned will have any experience returning college kicks.
 
AUcane said:
Thought it was the other way around, at least in the spring.

Thomas on KOR was so underwhelming last year which was disappointing because he has the perfect athletic makeup for it. Instead, he was a straight line kid with zero wiggle back there. I recall back in the spring there were reports that he was better suited as a PR guy instead which makes zero sense b/c you need even more wiggle at that position.

Hopefully it's a comfort level thing with him but he definitely should get another shot b/c of his elite speed.

I'm surprised there's not more talk of Lo returning kicks. He'd be ideally suited for it as well, more so than Harley.
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Thomas is basically Dorsett. Let the kid stick to what he's good at and find somebody else for returns.
 
Mklein13 said:
Thomas, Dallas, Harley, Lingard on kick return figure it out as the season goes on. Then Thomas on punt return.
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What on earth would make you say that? Kid is great at using speed to get open, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think he can return punts.
 
kryptonite said:
What on earth would make you say that? Kid is great at using speed to get open, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think he can return punts.
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He has wiggle. You don’t do what he did at the UA game without having wiggle. He just struggled to find the seams at KR.

PR requires a different skillset.
 
AUcane said:
Thought it was the other way around, at least in the spring.

Thomas on KOR was so underwhelming last year which was disappointing because he has the perfect athletic makeup for it. Instead, he was a straight line kid with zero wiggle back there. I recall back in the spring there were reports that he was better suited as a PR guy instead which makes zero sense b/c you need even more wiggle at that position.

Hopefully it's a comfort level thing with him but he definitely should get another shot b/c of his elite speed.

I'm surprised there's not more talk of Lo returning kicks. He'd be ideally suited for it as well, more so than Harley.
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It was disappointing especially considering how elite he looked in the AA game returning Kicks. Hopefully it was just a comfort and lack of experience thing and he steps his game up this year. If not we should have more options.
 
Thomas needs to learn to hit the hole full speed. He hesitated too much and either tries to bounce it outside or dances too much. Needs to be full go and put the defenders on their heels, it’s very hard to tackle and fully breakdown when you are on your heels. His speed is legit, but he has to learn it isn’t high school, you can’t dance around. Hit the hole and go!
 
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kryptonite said:
What on earth would make you say that? Kid is great at using speed to get open, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think he can return punts.
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The kid has never returned a punt in a college game before so hold judgement before he fields his first couple punts.
 
moneymanj said:
Thomas needs to learn to hit the hole full speed. He hesitated too much and either tries to bounce it outside or dances too much. Needs to be full go and put the defenders on their heels, it’s very hard to tackle and fully breakdown when you are on your heels. His speed is legit, but he has to learn it isn’t high school, you can’t dance around. Hit the hole and go!
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This is the main reason I want Lo back there. He comes from a system that really sets up nicely, I believe, for they type of KR scheme we use. I'm being intentionally over-simplistic, but a lot of the same elements that apply to the Wing-T he's used to can carry over to kick return, minus the whole fielding the ball part. Find the lane, and hit it wide dafuq open and don't look back for nobody or nothing.
 
CanEs4life04 said:
It was disappointing especially considering how elite he looked in the AA game returning Kicks. Hopefully it was just a comfort and lack of experience thing and he steps his game up this year. If not we should have more options.
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The AA game is a little different than playing against college athletes who have been around for a few years.
 
PR- DJ and JT
KR- Lo/JT & Pope/Harley

Find role for guys, get guys touches they may not get during the game.
 
I don't care if Devin Hester is back there, we're not breaking any kick returns if the blocking continues to be horrible. Punt returns were much better. Braxton often had nice lanes with plenty of room.
 
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DTP said:
I don't care if Devin Hester is back there, we're not breaking any kick returns if the blocking continues to be horrible. Punt returns were much better. Braxton often had nice lanes with plenty of room.
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But it was still a fair catch
 
Kick return is not just catching the ball and running whererver you please. Plays are called, blocks need to be made in order to be successful.

Thomas will be more successful with better blocking/timing
 
Mklein13 said:
The kid has never returned a punt in a college game before so hold judgement before he fields his first couple punts.
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I'll be the first to sing his praises if he turns out to be good at it, but the point remains. There is no reason to think he'll be good. Good coverage will help, but thus far he's shown no wiggle. Not knocking, just pointing out a fact.
 
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