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Special Teams

OrangeBowlMagic

OrangeBowlMagic

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In college football, special teams can swing outcomes of games very significantly. Anyone on Twitter will tell you, #CollegeKickers is always trending on a Saturday in the fall, and for those of us who were fortunate enough to survive the Zach Feagles error (or is it era?), I don't need to tell you how much a trainwreck of a punter can demoralize a football team.

Beat reporters saying that practice ended today in a very competitive session and Borregales hit FGs from 58 and 56 to end the day. I know a lot of us have nightmares of the UVA doink, but he was 17/21 last year, which is 81%, good for 36th in the country. Of all kickers who attempted 21 or more FGs, only 20 had a higher percentage. So, overall, he was very good. And as a true freshman....if he's hitting from 56 and 58, his leg is clearly getting stronger. I sure hope we don't see him kicking a lot of FGs this year, but he should be a strength for us. We know Lou is a massive weapon. Even in slightly of a "down year" for him, he still finished 25th in the country in gross punting avg. I doubt many teams in the country will be better in the kicking game than we are.

One aspect I would like to see an improvement in is kickoffs. Borregales only had a touchback on 47% on his kickoffs, which was 67th in the country. That's not good enough. It's such a weapon to have a kicker who can blast kickoff after kickoff deep into the endzone.

Where do we stand on the return units this year? 74th in the country last year in kickoff return yardage. 33rd in punt return average. Has Mario mentioned who will be the kick and punt returners yet?

These are the hidden areas where games can be won or lost. I don't have the stat handy, but I know the winning percentage for teams who block a punt in a game is MASSIVE. Special teams can really turn wins to losses, or vice versa. I'm very confident in the kicking game, but I really hope we can become dominant again in the return game.
 
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Kicker and punter combo will be minimum top 5 in the nation. Returners are tbd. Curtis X and rique have been name dropped there. Coverage units should be good I guess.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
In college football, special teams can swing outcomes of games very significantly. Anyone on Twitter will tell you, #CollegeKickers is always trending on a Saturday in the fall, and for those of us who were fortunate enough to survive the Zach Feagles error (or is it era?), I don't need to tell you how much a trainwreck of a punter can demoralize a football team.

Beat reporters saying that practice ended today in a very competitive session and Borregales hit FGs from 58 and 56 to end the day. I know a lot of us have nightmares of the UVA doink, but he was 17/21 last year, which is 81%, good for 36th in the country. Of all kickers who attempted 21 or more FGs, only 20 had a higher percentage. So, overall, he was very good. And as a true freshman....if he's hitting from 56 and 58, his leg is clearly getting stronger. I sure hope we don't see him kicking a lot of FGs this year, but he should be a strength for us. We know Lou is a massive weapon. Even in slightly of a "down year" for him, he still finished 25th in the country in gross punting avg. I doubt many teams in the country will be better in the kicking game than we are.

One aspect I would like to see an improvement in is kickoffs. Borregales only had a touchback on 47% on his kickoffs, which was 67th in the country. That's not good enough. It's such a weapon to have a kicker who can blast kickoff after kickoff deep into the endzone.

Where do we stand on the return units this year? 74th in the country last year in kickoff return yardage. 33rd in punt return average. Has Mario mentioned who will be the kick and punt returners yet?

These are the hidden areas where games can be won or lost. I don't have the stat handy, but I know the winning percentage for teams who block a punt in a game is MASSIVE. Special teams can really turn wins to losses, or vice versa. I'm very confident in the kicking game, but I really hope we can become dominant again in the return game.
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One thing Jose did was not allow returns. Andy's leg will only get stronger so hopefully he improves going forward because if there's one thing I can't trust on special teams, it's Miami's kick and punt coverage in recent years. I expect that to change with the new staff. This isn't the Jonathan Frickin Patke show anymore.
 
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Our kick off coverage and return teams have been bad. IMO, this is one of the biggest places depth issues show up, specifically at LB and DB. We’ve had walk on, WRs, etc. covering kids for a long time. It’s such an underrated portion of the game
 
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Mklein13 said:
It was embarrassing how bad specials was last year aside from our punter and kicker.
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I didn’t think George was terrible on PR. A few times I questioned him not waving a fair catch but he had some pretty decent returns. I don’t remember if he muffed any.
 
I expect to see more “starters” (i.e., playmakers) on both coverage and return units. Mario made it clear recently that special teams will be an equal focus and not just a place to have youngsters participate. Even mentioned he’s looking at effort on blocking PATs.
 
1. Kick off returns---don't try to be a hero and get us started on the 15 yard line. Catch the **** ball and start on the 25.
2. Kick offs----find somebody who can kick it into the end zone. Most returners these days are instructed to stand on goal line and not deal with it unless it is short
3. Punt returns--- it's just fine to fair catch it, esp if folks can't stop blocking in the back
4. Punts---go Lou
 
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Canes Stan said:
I didn’t think George was terrible on PR. A few times I questioned him not waving a fair catch but he had some pretty decent returns. I don’t remember if he muffed any.
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Yes I think he was good enough. I remember Hall, Stevenson, Pope got opportunities. Pope was atrocious.
 
Why Stevenson is on PR will always be something I don't understand. He isn't speedy or shifty. The threat of Rique taking one back is low.

Andy B goin have to show me. Practice quotes are cool but let's see it in game. He was a true fresh so, he def is warranted patience.

I just want to get back to the days were KR/PR TD's were a normal occurrence and we were even gettin multiple in one game. I can't remember the last time we had a multiple TDs on special teams returns
 
jmccomber5 said:
Our kick off coverage and return teams have been bad. IMO, this is one of the biggest places depth issues show up, specifically at LB and DB. We’ve had walk on, WRs, etc. covering kids for a long time. It’s such an underrated portion of the game
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I agree...and got out of hand with Manny. There would be three walk ones on kick off or punts. We were purposely playing special teams with an arm tied behind our backs. And like the Corey Flagg thread, i must say, I respect those walk ons for what they do for the program, but that doesn’t mean we should be trotting out players that put us at a disadvantage. I beleive the multiple walk ons playing meaningful snaps will end.
 
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