Penn State sorting its options for kick return in 2023
Rule changes in recent years have limited the opportunities for teams in the kick return game, but Penn State has still emphasized the most exciting aspect of special teams. The Nittany Lions joined Indiana as one of two teams in the conference with a kickoff returned for a touchdown last season.
Penn State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins spent the spring trying to figure out the team’s best plan of attack in 2023.
“You’re looking at the overall skill in the building, no different than you would at any other position, but now you’ve got to frame it into the picture of, “How are we putting this together in our play?” “What is our eye progression of where we’re looking?” “How are we trying to set this return up?” Those things are different [than high school],” Collins said. “Quite frankly, how you catch the ball moving forward, how we work our signals with where the ball is caught. All those little nuances that maybe you don’t get at the high school game.
“At the end of the day, you’re looking for that skill set, the guys that are going to be able to hit that thing full speed and find the space that you need. Now you do that and put the teaching side into it of where our aiming points are at, what our direct lines are and how we set up each return.”
Penn State leaned on running backs last season
Penn State had four players return kicks last season with freshman tailback Nick Singleton handling the bulk of the duties. The Nittany Lions finished fourth in the Big Ten in return average. The staff put Singleton and classmate Kaytron Allen back deep several times, a dicey proposition for a team rolling with just two scholarship running backs by the end of the season.
Still, Collins said, the goal is for Penn State to put the best players on the field and maximize touches.
“Those guys are playmakers with the ball in their hands,” Collins said. “We’ll continue to make sure we can get it there. They can change the game out there, we’re going to certainly give them those opportunities. We have other guys who can return also, but you saw it last year. We rode with those guys for the second half of the season as the primary and the off-returner, which gave us a two-headed monster. If people want to spread it around right there, it allows both of them to get it in their hands.”
Other Nittany Lions who could factor in
Veteran nickel Daequan Hardy and freshman speedster Omari Evans both got opportunities to return last season with mixed results. Both were back in the mix for Penn State this spring along with a few other young players.
“We’ve got a lot of guys taking looks back there,” said Collins. “Omari Evans has got some speed. We’ve taken a peak at Daequan Hardy, Dae Dae has done a great job with some looks back there. Kaden Saunders has been back there, Elliot Washington is a guy who had some big-time kick returns out of high school, too.
“We’ve circulated a lot of guys through there and taken a peak at them. We’ll continue to do that.”
