Last week I previewed the offense and defense, but I never previewed the special teams because it was hard to tell from what I had seen exactly what to expect. With the release of the 2-deep yesterday, we now have a little more idea on what we might see on special teams.
Michigan transfer Bryan Wright will take the placekicking duties, and he is listed as "OR" punter with Jerry Phillips, meaning that there is a chance Wright will do all the kicking.
Wright has not done a bunch of kicking recently, so there is no way to know what we can expect, other than he beat out a guy who has one some kicking for us, and was on the club at Michigan, so I hope we can expect him to make some key field goals. If he can make everything inside 40, that will be a solid contribution.
As for punting, we'd be happy with something in the middle of the pack with no blocks.
On kick return, BooBoo Gates and Ty Pronty will bring the ball back. Pronty has done it before and Gates has game breaking ability, so I think this team has a chance to be pretty good this year and give the team some field position.
As for punt return, Eugene Cooper and Adrian Hodges are set for that duty. Cooper was all-conference in JUCO as a kick returner.
In general, what do you want from your special teams?
No turnovers
The occasional big play (blocked punt, big return).
I don't see any reason why this year's unit won't be at least as good as last year's, and maybe a slight improvement. Building off some dreadful Brandon years, even two average seasons in a row would be good, and anything better would be great.
Wright is the punter
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