Special Teams

[Big East Beast]

Early Schiano 2.0 classes were heavy on linemen and D.

That is the foundation on which the program is built.

I think we’ve clearly made great progress there.

This year’s frosh class was the first with several talented skill guys who redshirted.

We all know how important special teams can be.

What I’m curious to see this spring is whether this infusion of talent/speed starts to make its way into our program first through special teams.

Also if our philosophy on PR/KR changes. This year we were clearly thrown off by the injury to Long, Rochelle’s struggles an emergence of Dremel.

We clearly could not afford an injury to our top receiver but the move had to be made to get a reliable returner.

That said, I felt we left a lot of yards on the table by rarely, if ever, even attempting to return kicks.

Is it possible someone may emerge to give us a weapon reminiscent of electric players from what seems like a bygone era:

Eric Young, Terrell Willis, Nate Jones, Willie Foster, Janarion Grant, Aron Cruickshank?

 

[gef21]

Returning kicks is much more risk reward than it used to be in my opinion. Look at Miamis first KOR in the bowl, we absolutely smacked them for terrible position.

 

[WhiteBus]

Early Schiano 2.0 classes were heavy on linemen and D.

That is the foundation on which the program is built.

I think we’ve clearly made great progress there.

This year’s frosh class was the first with several talented skill guys who redshirted.

We all know how important special teams can be.

What I’m curious to see this spring is whether this infusion of talent/speed starts to make its way into our program first through special teams.

Also if our philosophy on PR/KR changes. This year we were clearly thrown off by the injury to Long, Rochelle’s struggles an emergence of Dremel.

We clearly could not afford an injury to our top receiver but the move had to be made to get a reliable returner.

That said, I felt we left a lot of yards on the table by rarely, if ever, even attempting to return kicks.

Is it possible someone may emerge to give us a weapon reminiscent of electric players from what seems like a bygone era:

Eric Young, Terrell Willis, Nate Jones, Willie Foster, Janarion Grant, Aron Cruickshank?

We had an excellent special teams this year. Kind of odd to try bring up a negative. This year Rutgers special teams defense was tied for 10th in blocked kicks, tied for 1st in blocked punts, 10th in return yards allowed. We won games because of special teams including the Pinstripe Bowl.
The kicking game has changed in both college and pro. I'm fine with getting the ball on the 25 if the ball is kicked into the end zone. I'm also fine with fair catching with defenders nearby. The biggest downer in football is having the defense forcing a 3 and out, only to be ruined by a fumble on the return.

 

[RUbacker]

Early Schiano 2.0 classes were heavy on linemen and D.

That is the foundation on which the program is built.

I think we’ve clearly made great progress there.

This year’s frosh class was the first with several talented skill guys who redshirted.

We all know how important special teams can be.

What I’m curious to see this spring is whether this infusion of talent/speed starts to make its way into our program first through special teams.

Also if our philosophy on PR/KR changes. This year we were clearly thrown off by the injury to Long, Rochelle’s struggles an emergence of Dremel.

We clearly could not afford an injury to our top receiver but the move had to be made to get a reliable returner.

That said, I felt we left a lot of yards on the table by rarely, if ever, even attempting to return kicks.

Is it possible someone may emerge to give us a weapon reminiscent of electric players from what seems like a bygone era:

Eric Young, Terrell Willis, Nate Jones, Willie Foster, Janarion Grant, Aron Cruickshank?

Mmmmm I thought we had good special teams this year . I was not confident in roshelle and his ability to catch and protect the ball. We can improve there.

 

[Big East Beast]

We had an excellent special teams this year. Kind of odd to try bring up a negative. This year Rutgers special teams defense was tied for 10th in blocked kicks, tied for 1st in blocked punts, 10th in return yards allowed. We won games because of special teams including the Pinstripe Bowl.
The kicking game has changed in both college and pro. I'm fine with getting the ball on the 25 if the ball is kicked into the end zone. I'm also fine with fair catching with defenders nearby. The biggest downer in football is having the defense forcing a 3 and out, only to be ruined by a fumble on the return.

I wasn’t being negative and agree the defensive side of ST is certainly back.

The risk of injury is real and not one I take lightly.

However, being afraid of muffing a return is way to go through life.

We were dead last in the NCAA in both kickoff and punt return attempts. We had 5 KRs and 7 PRs.

Interestingly, when we did return kickoffs, we had an average of 33 yards which was highest in the nation. Most schools return 4x the number of KO than we did and average in the 20s.

The risk / reward may simply not be there, especially when you take into account risk of injury. I think this is the NCAAs intent.

On punts, however, there is clearly a missed opportunity. The top recruiters and defense-first schools are also highly correlated with both success and high return yardage.

Texas, USC, PSU, A&M, Michigan, UNLV and Iowa are the only schools that topped 300 yards. FSU & Georgia are also in the top 15.

Part of talent depth is having several guys competing for PT and this includes return guys. Think about how nervous you get when there’s a great return guy back there vs someone you know is just going to fair catch. Or worse - let the ball bounce and roll.

I had high hopes for Rochelle who made some really exciting plays, but let’s not forget he was a QB in high school and still only a soph.

It’s a really hard transition for anyone to adjust to the college game at the B1G level. To also develop a new skill under intense pressure of a PR/KR game situation, I think borders on unreasonable.

As you mentioned, ST is a big component to our success, but I’d love to close the gap in the return game.

I think it is a barometer of overall program talent. When you see young guys flying around on ST they are often the same guys who are in key starting roles in the years to come.

This is a more tangible sign of progress and reward than recruiting accolades. I have no doubt that if you make the field playing for Schiano, you have earned it.

I’m excited for the program and seeing how the depth chart plays out in the spring. I feel like 2024 can be a breakthrough year.

 

[e5fdny]

This year’s frosh class was the first with several talented skill guys who redshirted.

We all know how important special teams can be.

* What I’m curious to see this spring is whether this infusion of talent/speed starts to make its way into our program first through special teams.

Is it possible someone may emerge to give us a weapon reminiscent of electric players from what seems like a bygone era:

+ Eric Young, Terrell Willis, Nate Jones, Willie Foster, Janarion Grant, Aron Cruickshank?

* Yes.

+ Ron Allen too.

 

[Bagarocks]

Early Schiano 2.0 classes were heavy on linemen and D.

That is the foundation on which the program is built.

I think we’ve clearly made great progress there.

This year’s frosh class was the first with several talented skill guys who redshirted.

We all know how important special teams can be.

What I’m curious to see this spring is whether this infusion of talent/speed starts to make its way into our program first through special teams.

Also if our philosophy on PR/KR changes. This year we were clearly thrown off by the injury to Long, Rochelle’s struggles an emergence of Dremel.

We clearly could not afford an injury to our top receiver but the move had to be made to get a reliable returner.

That said, I felt we left a lot of yards on the table by rarely, if ever, even attempting to return kicks.

Is it possible someone may emerge to give us a weapon reminiscent of electric players from what seems like a bygone era:

Eric Young, Terrell Willis, Nate Jones, Willie Foster, Janarion Grant, Aron Cruickshank?

Your talking about a coach, above all others who knows what risk vs reward in the kicking game truly means.

 

[Big East Beast]

Mmmmm I thought we had good special teams this year . I was not confident in roshelle and his ability to catch and protect the ball. We can improve there.

Rochelle clearly struggled. I wish we found other ways to get him involved.

I wonder if a few touches as a WR or out of the backfield would have gotten him back on track but we also don’t see practice.

 

[Big East Beast]

Your talking about a coach, above all others who knows what risk vs reward in the kicking game truly means.

I understand and it seems like kickoffs are not worth it. We know it’s not just the returner at great risk.

Punts seem much less dangerous to me, however, and much greater opportunity for improvement.

 

[Big East Beast]

* Yes.

+ Ron Allen too.

Excellent addition of Ron Allen.

 

[RUbacker]

Rochelle clearly struggled. I wish we found other ways to get him involved.

I wonder if a few touches as a WR or out of the backfield would have gotten him back on track but we also don’t see practice.

I was expecting him to be used that way but never saw him

 

[Colbert17!]

I was wondering what percentage of KO and punt returns have a penalty called? Just guessing but wouldn't be surprised if its somewhere in the 30% range. Is the risk/reward of getting a long gain compared to being pinned back after a penalty really worth it unless you have a really high end return man?