Special Teams preview

Well let's be honest it can't get much worse than last year but there's reason to hope.

Mangino and staff have continued to recruit and bring more talent each year to Mt. Oread and I think that will show even more this year.
A step backwards on special teams last year should have been expected. Kyle Tucker was a multi year starter punting the ball and the same with Scott Webb at kicker and Webb especially had a huge leg on kickoffs.
Add to that the departures of Derek Fine and Brandon McAnderson were big holes to fill.

Have faith fellow Hawks, I think this unit will be a strength.

Its pretty reasonable to expect Rojas to have a bigger leg (even hinted at recently in an article by the LJW) and Branstetter should have improved distance as well.

The thing that has me the most excited for this unit as a whole is the amount of talent Mangino has on campus and how that will translate to blockers and returners.

Let's take a look at the main guys-
Daymond Patterson- PR/ possible KR

He's got a lot of wiggle and he can get up and go.
DP is experienced as a PR doing it last year as a true Frosh and all through HS, plus he showed he can take it to the house- and that's something we need even with our high powered offense.
He's got this position locked down but I don't believe he'll be a KR for this team, he's too valuable at CB to run him out there for that too. But Mangino puts the best guys in positions to make plays so I won't rule it out.

Alonso Rojas-
Punter
While he crapped the bed a couple times, he was huge in the Mizzou game and had 2 punts that directly led to safeties by Jake Laptad over the course of the year.
With our defense looking pretty stout, this is a helluva weapon to have in the holster.
The hope is that he doesn't get used a lot but when he does he becomes more consistent and kicks the snot out of the ball and pins opponents deep to help the D.

Jacob Branstetter- K
If he makes as many tackles as he did last year, that's a major problem.
His coverage team can help him with that and he can also help himself by kicking the ball a little farther and a little higher. Hopefully working with Chris Dawson this summer he'll be ready to drill some kicks deep like Webb did before him.

Kick Returner- ?
After Marcus Hereford decided to pull an Eric Chenoworth (never thought he'd make the blog?) And regress in a major way, the offense had wretched field position all year except for when Briscoe returned kicks against the slavers.

So who's an option here?
These are my guesses-
Dez Briscoe- obviously he has talent to do this and I wouldn't rule him out.

Jake Sharp- he's fast and should have a chance to get to top end speed (4.29 -40) and make something happen.

Bradley McDougald- True FR - WR
This young pup has been impressive so far in workouts, at least that's the word. He played WR, RB and Safety for his HS team so he's obviously versatile and a big kid at 6-3 (approx) so he like Briscoe would be hard to bring down initially. If he can handle the mental side of it, he is a legit option but he'll most likely also be starting at WR (4th WR) so it might prove too much on his plate.

Isiah Barfield- has good speed and won't be used a lot as a WR this year with our crazy depth. He's in my top 2.

Toben Opurum- he's my other pick, but I don't know if he's ever done this and Mangino will want someone he can trust back there.

In any event, like I mentioned this should be an improved unit all the way around and be a nice boost to both sides of the ball.
Special teams could be what takes this squad from good to great and I can't wait to find out.

Rock Chalk
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