Special Teams improvement in 2018

senoiajacket

Helluva Engineer
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Ok, our much beleaguered special teams arguably made the biggest turnaround this year. I must admit, like CPJ, I do hold my breath every time we kick off, but other than that, the other four aspects (KO return, punt coverage, punt return, place kicking) all improved noticeably.

What do you think was the cause of it? Was it just an illusion, or can we sustain it next year? Did we do something different to improve or did we just get lucky. I recall early on CPJ saying we were going to put more of our starters/better athletes on the special teams and it seemed to get better after that.

I think there were at least two games we don't win without the improvement on special teams this year. Oh yeah, and there was also the one where special teams was a large contributor to the loss.

For me, it comes down to mostly individual guys. I am convinced after watching & listening to CPJ that J.Thomas is just a phenomenal athlete and a difference maker. Harvin has proved himself solid gold. W. Wells has done everything asked of him. Maybe I am just not a "refined" enough observer to see the other 10 guys making a difference.
 
SidewalkJacket

SidewalkJacket

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I saw marked improvement in ST this year, for sure. KO coverage absolutely killed us at USF (and had trouble in other games, too), but it got better and even had some really good games. KO return/coverage is where the athletic difference between us and many of our P5 opponents rears it's ugly head.

BUT...

We have a solid K for the next 3 years, a solid punter for the next 2 years, and a solid KR for the next 3 years.

Feels good!
 

Deleted member 2897

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Well look at it this way - Wesley Wells outperformed 46/46 to 48/54 the guy who got 3rd team All-ACC, Pressley Harvin lead the ACC in both Punting and Net Punting (taking 2nd team somehow), and Juanyeh Thomas lead the ACC in return touchdowns and finished somewhere around 4th in yards per return.

Then there's the tackling - that was worse than silly against USF, but we seemed to improve a few games later and it was fairly good the rest of the season. I mean Terrence Horne from USF had 5 returns and averaged 53 yards per return! Even if you completely delete his 2 touchdown returns, he still had 3 other returns that averaged 25 yards apiece.
 

steebu

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
625
CPJ said when you've got good kickers your special teams look great. If Wesley gets a full year of S&C he could be kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone and that would pretty much cover up a lot of potential KO coverage woes.

Pressley being smart and not outkicking his coverage while still getting off a 55-yard punt is amazing. I don't know how many of his punts were fair-cuaght or downed inside the 20, but that helps immensely.

So ... if you've got an accurate kicker making FG's ... and putting his kickoffs through the back of the end zone ... and a punter who booms kicks that are fair-caught ... most of your problems go away.

Just imagine if two of our kickoffs against USF were touchbacks and not run-backs ...
 
RamblinCharger

RamblinCharger

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senoiajacket said:
Ok, our much beleaguered special teams arguably made the biggest turnaround this year. I must admit, like CPJ, I do hold my breath every time we kick off, but other than that, the other four aspects (KO return, punt coverage, punt return, place kicking) all improved noticeably.

What do you think was the cause of it? Was it just an illusion, or can we sustain it next year? Did we do something different to improve or did we just get lucky. I recall early on CPJ saying we were going to put more of our starters/better athletes on the special teams and it seemed to get better after that.

I think there were at least two games we don't win without the improvement on special teams this year. Oh yeah, and there was also the one where special teams was a large contributor to the loss.

For me, it comes down to mostly individual guys. I am convinced after watching & listening to CPJ that J.Thomas is just a phenomenal athlete and a difference maker. Harvin has proved himself solid gold. W. Wells has done everything asked of him. Maybe I am just not a "refined" enough observer to see the other 10 guys making a difference.
Click to expand...
I think CPJ mentioned this, or maybe someone on the board, but Special teams is about having a few really good specialists, and it makes special teams look great. Harvin is great, Wells was manna from heaven, and Juanyeh is a freshman phenom. That is the reason we saw improvement, no other reason IMO.
 

danny daniel

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,491
senoiajacket said:
Ok, our much beleaguered special teams arguably made the biggest turnaround this year. I must admit, like CPJ, I do hold my breath every time we kick off, but other than that, the other four aspects (KO return, punt coverage, punt return, place kicking) all improved noticeably.

What do you think was the cause of it? Was it just an illusion, or can we sustain it next year? Did we do something different to improve or did we just get lucky. I recall early on CPJ saying we were going to put more of our starters/better athletes on the special teams and it seemed to get better after that.

I think there were at least two games we don't win without the improvement on special teams this year. Oh yeah, and there was also the one where special teams was a large contributor to the loss.

For me, it comes down to mostly individual guys. I am convinced after watching & listening to CPJ that J.Thomas is just a phenomenal athlete and a difference maker. Harvin has proved himself solid gold. W. Wells has done everything asked of him. Maybe I am just not a "refined" enough observer to see the other 10 guys making a difference.
Click to expand...

Late in the season the coverage teams got a real boost from V Alexander and over the course of the season solid efforts IMO from J Johnson, C Campbell, and T Carpenter
 
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