INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Not So Special
Early-season kickoff and punt teams aren't all that they should be
by Ivan Maisel
Posted: Wed September 9, 1998
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Morton steamed past a bunch of Boilermakers on his
98-yard touchdown return.
(Robert Beck)
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Nothing scares a college football coach more than the first
kickoff of the season, unless it's the first punt. A dirty
secret of college football is that many coaches, fearing injury
to their players, don't practice their special teams at full
speed. That's why so many big plays in the kicking game decide
openers. Some teams aren't ready.
- Iowa's Kahlil Hill returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown and
a kickoff 88 yards for a TD in the Hawkeyes' 38-0 shutout of
Central Michigan.
- In a 42-0 rout, Air Force scored twice against Wake Forest's
special teams, falling on a fumbled punt in the end zone and
returning a blocked punt 17 yards.
- USC and Arizona each returned the first kickoffs they received
this season for touchdowns, against Purdue and Hawaii,
respectively.
- Notre Dame took control of its game against Michigan in the
third quarter by forcing a fumble on a kickoff return and
blocking a field goal. Each play set up an Irish touchdown.
Special teams have amassed 16 touchdowns in openers this
season—15 on returns (of six blocked kicks, five kickoffs and
four punts) and a fumble recovery in the end zone. Nine
touchdowns were scored on kickoff and punt returns in last
year's season openers. During the final three weeks of November
last year, by contrast, teams returned only six kicks for TDs.
After Syracuse committed blocking penalties on its first three
punt returns last Saturday, Orangeman defensive back David Byrd
explained the lapses by saying, "Ain't nothing like game speed."
The difference between your scout team and the opponent's first
team is never as pronounced as in special teams situations. Even
if coaches were inclined to use starters against starters when
practicing kick returns, it would be difficult to do. Often the
same players start on both kicking and receiving teams. But most
coaches in the 85-scholarship era won't practice kick coverage
with full contact because of the danger of injury. "You get
people hurt, more than anything else," Florida State coach Bobby
Bowden says. "There's a way to stop that. Get a Janikowski."
In Florida State's 23-14 defeat of Texas A&M two weeks ago, the
Seminoles' Sebastian Janikowski put all six of his kickoffs into
the end zone. That gives a kickoff coverage team a false sense
of security. Two of Janikowski's kicks were run back, and on one
of those occasions Texas A&M's Dante Hall returned the ball 49
yards. "Instead of just running downfield in your lane, as in
practice, people are hitting you," Florida State junior tailback
Jeff Chaney says. "In a game, people are moving all over the
place."
Hawaii found that out the hard way. "You have some guys who
haven't been in a live situation, but you ask them to go out
there anyway," Rainbow Warriors special teams coach Doug Semones
says. Arizona's Chris McAlister returned Hawaii's opening
kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the Wildcats' 27-6 victory.
"Our guys ran down and got blocked and didn't get off their
blocks," Semones says.
Coaches talk about special teams being as important as the
offense and defense units. Sometimes that's all it is—talk.
"You come into spring prepared to get guys ready to fill holes
on offense and defense," says USC special teams coach Shawn
Slocum, whose Chad Morton returned the first kickoff to the
Trojans this season 98 yards for a touchdown in a 27-17 victory
over Purdue on Aug. 30. "In the fall, on special teams you still
have question marks. Once you get two or three games in, you
find out who's dependable."
By then, it may be too late.
Issue date: September 14, 1998
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