Football Preview: Special Teams

This is probably the most unsettled part of the team, and that does not bode well, especially in our early games against P5 athletes.

Last year, BG had excellent special teams.  Jake Suder really improved and we had the best punter in the MAC and we had Matt Wilcox on returns.  By and large, BG really played well on special teams.

That's all gone and what's left are question marks.

The most important positions are the kickers.  You can always fair catch a punt and down a kickoff.

Having said that, we knew we were losing Davidson, but the JUCO punter who was brought in is gone already.  The #1 on the depth chart was Grant Timmerman, a RSo who was a punter/kicker in HS at Centerville.  He came here as a kicker, but averaged 38.6 in HS.  If replicated that would be 11th in the MAC, but he might well have improved and gotten stronger while at BG.

Kicking is another story.  BG exepcted Jake Suder to be back, but miscalculated his eligibility and he is gone.  There was no plan B.  The place kicker is slate to be Nate Needham.  He will do place kicks and kickoffs, based on the  depth chart.  Needham kicked at Youngstown State and missed all his FGS (3) and made 6-7 XPs.  This is worrisome, but again, he would appear to be the best we have and hopefully he has perfected his craft.

On KOR, BG will use its RB depth with Hargrove and Denley deep.  Hargrove could be very dangerous on returns if he can get in the free.

On PR, Milton will be back again.  Honestly, the most important thing on that job is judgment and consistency.  The biggest play you might get is someone with the instincts to run up and fair catch a punt before it bounces and costs up 30 yards.  

Anyway, it feels like a rough ride for the special teams.  Let's hope for the best.  If these guys were MAC-average, that would be a huge success.

Or, we never punt or kick a FG and just score TDs.