Special Teams

[ANGCatFan]

A group that needs its own thread. Last year we were average to horrible in the PAC12 in every special team category ranking 8th in kickoff returns (20.8 yards/return), 6th in punt returns (7 yards/return), 6th in punting (37.6 net yards/punt), 7th in kickoff coverage (38.4 net avg kick), last in field goal % (.615) and 10th in PAT % (.914).

Here is a Berk azcentral story on the group competing to be our next kickers. Highlights:

• Over the last six seasons, UA kickers have a field goal conversion rate of 71 percent. Last year alone, 67 kickers in the country had a better percentage than that.

"I think we're going to see an upgrade there, regardless of who it is," Ragle said. "I think we're going to be better in the kicking game. Right now there's no one standing out, but I'll tell you by the time we finish and go into UNLV, we should be pretty good and pretty excited about our kicking game."

This year, Ragle and the Wildcats may spread the duties out over multiple kickers. The three main candidates right now are junior Casey Skowron, freshman Josh Pollack and Virginia Tech graduate transfer Ethan Keyserling.

"You could easily see where we could have a short guy, who is pretty accurate from 40 in, and a longer guy that might have a bigger leg and could handle kickoffs," Ragle said. "Whatever gives us the best chance to win, we're going to try to find that.

Skowron may be the most consistent of the group, but has battled various minor injuries the past two years, which has slowed his development.

Ragle said Keyserling, perhaps the leading candidate for kickoff duty, may have the strongest leg of all the kickers but needs to be more consistent.

We should be better in kickoff and punt returns with all the returners back from last year and some exciting new players, including DaVonte' Neal and TJ Johnson, who can be return men.

Coach Rod announced the Neal and Josh Kern (a former QB) will be the holders for now and both give us options for possible trick plays.

Drew Riggleman will have to hold off Pollack and prove he can be consistent if he wants to be this year's punter.

[Merkin]

Don't get me started on Stoops and RR's completely disregard of ST. Are any of the punters or kickers on scholies or are they still all walk ons?

Keyserling was 100% in PATs at VT (3-3) however 0% for FGs (0-3).

If we only had Keyserling kicking PATs against ASU instead of Zendejas.

Tomey loved STs. Even Mackovic knew how valuable they were. He had Nick Folk, a long time NFL kicker, and Danny Baugher, a finalist for the Ray Guy national punter of the year award who unfortunately messed up his ACL and never recovered.

[ANGCatFan]

Good interview with Casey Skowron by Jason Bartel at SB Nation. Key points:

4. What's a regular practice like for a kicker?

We usually get out here about an hour before anybody else is out on the field, start doing our own warmups. Probably take about 20 kicks in warmup, and sometimes we have a little field goal competition beforehand between everybody. Then when walk-through starts, we keep doing our warmup, and then pretty much by the end of field goal period (usually period 3 of about 20) it's almost the end of our day for us. Every once in a while, like today, we'll have a few situations at the end where we'll need to hit a fourth down, ten second left kick. But pretty much it's over by the third period because we've already had about an hour and a half to two hours of practice by that point.

5. Are those end-of-practice situations the closest thing you guys have to a game situation?

Pretty much. It's definitely the one that puts the most pressure on you as a kicker. It's the kind of thing you don't have the time to think, you just have to go out and do. So that's the most game-like. You just go into game mode, and you gotta make it.

6. What kind of work goes in off the field to improve as a kicker?

We do all the same lifts as the team. A lot of squats and a lot of leg exercises. But really the best thing to do is to just kick. We do a lot of stretching and stuff to make sure our flexibility is where it needs to be. But it's just like anything else. The best way to get better at it is just by doing it. I've kicked hundreds easily, probably a couple thousand at least (over the summer). If I come out and do 20 kicks a day, and I kick five days a week, ten weeks in the summer. That's 1,000 right there. So probably thousands.

7. DaVonte' Neal looks like he's going to be the holder this year. What's that like having him in there?

He gets the ball down. He's got some hands. Probably the fastest that I've worked with. There are definitely other aspects to it, we need to work a little bit on the spot but he'll get it. He's a great athlete. Definitely the fastest hands I've ever seen from a holder. He's really encouraging. Everything's positive. Field goal is really a unit, there's a snap, a hold and a kick and he's part of it now. He's part of the small family.

[azcat49]

That end crashes down and Devonte will take off. No one on a Fg unit will catch him.

[ANGCatFan]

Steve Rivera with a story on the kickers at FSA.

Wide rights, wide lefts and blocked kicks have been commonplace and costly for Arizona for several years running. Inconsistency has been the norm -- especially with the place-kicking, and to a lesser extent with punting.

"Nobody knows that better than me," said Ragle

Coach Ragle hasn't met Merkin.

[azthrillhouse]

Are we feeling better about ST's? I haven't seen competent kicking in a long time so I'm a bit confused.

[Chicat]

Are we feeling better about ST's? I haven't seen competent kicking in a long time so I'm a bit confused.

Outside of the miss that I attribute the same nerves that had Anu's passes going 5 yards long, I thought ST was solid. Bellotti brought up a good point as far as the third FG attempt being the most important and a confidence booster. Hope that carries over into the rest of the season.

[EastCoastCat]

Kick-offs were back to the old days - booming out of the end zone. I'm liking this little waterboy.

Riggleman still concerns me.

Coverage was decent but we will see against quality opponents.

[AZCatGirl]

Clearly we should've been recruiting soccer players sooner.

[Merkin]

Clearly we should've been recruiting women's soccer team managers sooner.

Fixed for ya.

Can we give that man a scholie now?

[azpenguin]

One thing I was seeing that I haven't seen mentioned was Neal on punt returns. He does a very good job of seeing the kick, seeing the defenders, and making a decision on whether to return, fair catch or let it bounce quickly and smartly. No fear. He may easily break a couple for TDs this year.

[ANGCatFan]

Jason Bartel with a kick return story at SB Nation.

"The kick return has just been awful," head coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I mean, it's been as bad of kick return in college football history."

"I'm wondering if teams will even kick it in the endzone," coach continued. "They might kick it to like the ten and pin us inside the 15, so we gotta get better at that."

"If we can get it past the 20, you may see me do a cartwheel on the sidelines," Rodriguez joked. "My goal is to not be the worst kick return unit in the country. Maybe be in the bottom fourth instead of the last one."

"We've fired guys, hired guys, looked at our schemes. It's just a matter of execution," coach added. "We've got guys that can do it, and we've got returners who can do it. We've just got to do a better job of blocking."

The blockers on kick return need to get it going or the Wildcats may find a way to lose a game on special teams, and it won't be on a field goal or extra point. It's because the offense had to go 85 yards over and over again. Tyrell Johnson, Jared Baker, and even DaVonte' Neal when he gets fully healthy can really run in the open field. But someone has to open the field up for them.

[Merkin]

More awful ST stats.

Out of 125 teams:

KO returns 110
Net punting 117
Punt return defense 107

[azgreg]

More awful ST stats.

Out of 125 teams:

KO returns 110
Net punting 117
Punt return defense 107

The punt return is kind of skewed though. We've only had 5 punt returns against us and 1 of them went for 34 yards (against UTSA). Other than that almost nothing.

[UAEebs86]

Kickoffs have been awesome-how many have even been returned? 1 or 2?

[azgreg]

Kickoffs have been awesome-how many have even been returned? 1 or 2?

9

[UAEebs86]

Kickoffs have been awesome-how many have even been returned? 1 or 2?

9

Against Arizona?

[Merkin]

http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/player/29/ ... index.html

[azgreg]

Kickoffs have been awesome-how many have even been returned? 1 or 2?

9

Against Arizona?

UNLV had 4 for 101 yards http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewCont ... _ID=964260
UTSA had 6 for 102 yards (1 was for 0 yards) http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewCont ... _ID=970072
Nevada had 0

[UAEebs86]

Kickoffs have been awesome-how many have even been returned? 1 or 2?

9

Against Arizona?

UNLV had 4 for 101 yards http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewCont ... _ID=964260
UTSA had 6 for 102 yards (1 was for 0 yards) http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewCont ... _ID=970072
Nevada had 0

Missed it by THAT much. Thought Skowron had more touchbacks. Thanks.

Still good stats though.

[prh]

Kickoffs have been awesome-how many have even been returned? 1 or 2?

9

Against Arizona?

UNLV had 4 for 101 yards http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewCont ... _ID=964260
UTSA had 6 for 102 yards (1 was for 0 yards) http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewCont ... _ID=970072
Nevada had 0

I'd be curious of starting field position after kickoffs. Touchbacks are great, but if opponents are starting at the 20 when they return, that's even better.

EDIT: Stopped being lazy and looked up ESPN play-by-play for all 3 games. KO results:

UNLV
25 (TB) (7 times to start game)
22 (22 yard return)
31 (30 yard return)
28 (26 yard return)
23 (23 yard return)

UTSA
25 (TB)
19 (19 yard return)
21 (18 yard return)
38 (24 yard return, after safety)
22 (0 yard return, end of 1st half squib)
25 (TB)
20 (19 yard return)
23 (22 yard return)

Nevada
25 (TB) (all 6 kicks)

[azgreg]

I'd say those are all pretty good.

[Merkin]

I'd say those are all pretty good.

Last year they had the kicker stop kicking TBs and start kicking them shorter and higher for that reason.

[azgreg]

I'd say those are all pretty good.

Last year they had the kicker stop kicking TBs and start kicking them shorter and higher for that reason.

I never understood that when we kick off from say the 40 after a penalty why we kicked it through the end zone. Why not just kick it really high like a punt and cover it like a punt.

[ANGCatFan]

A great Gimino article (even by his standards) on Tyrell Johnson. Kid could break a big run at any time.

Arizona Wildcats senior receiver Austin Hill was asked what he saw from young wideout Tyrell Johnson.

"You mean, whenever I can see him," Hill said. "He's so fast."

Arizona's fastest player -- "It ain't even close," coach Rich Rodriguez said -- is picking up speed as UA's regular season nears its halfway point Saturday night against USC.

"Some of the other guys will say, 'I can race him,' " Rodriguez said of Johnson. "You can race, but you're going to lose, and it won't be pretty."

"He has a lot of potential," Hill said.

"He's a playmaker. We could really use him. We don't really have that kind of speed anywhere on the team. He's so fast. You can tell. He'll be running really fast and you'll be like, 'You're not running full speed.' You can just know. When he's running way fast, his arms and legs just move way faster than you've ever seen."

[Merkin]

Can we all agree that just perhaps, the Cats should actually try and get a scholarship worthy kicker?

Punter too for that matter.

[OSUCat]

Can we all agree that just perhaps, the Cats should actually try and get a scholarship worthy kicker?

Punter too for that matter.

I don't actually know the answer but how many scholarship worthy punters and kickers are there? I figure they all goto the big schools, but what do I know?

[azpenguin]

Riggleman is quietly having a pretty good year. Averaging almost 46 yards a punt with 19 over 50 yards.

[ANGCatFan]

Great (even by Gimino standards) story on Jose Romero - Arizona's unlikeliest hero!

Romero is a kid who knows how to Bear Down!

He stopped being a quarterback.

No school wanted him out of high school.

No school wanted him after two years at Glendale Community College.

Arizona didn't want him when special teams coach Charlie Ragle went up to give him a tryout in December.

And then, because Romero wasn't willing to give up, wanted to exhaust one final opportunity, it all worked out.

[wyo-cat]

Wow - great story and a great young man.

[azcat49]

That was a pretty good snap to lead him perfectly like that. Great story. Guess if he can handle the pressure of a career ending Try out he can handle a last play FG

[ANGCatFan]

Jason Bartel at SBN breaks down everything that went into the fake field goal.

The Arizona Wildcats caught everyone off-guard when Rich Rodriguez called for a fake field goal late in the second quarter against the Washington Huskies.

Everyone including pretty much the entire Arizona sideline.

"I was shocked," freshman running back Nick Wilson said. "Everyone was jumping up and down screaming, and I was kinda confused at first, and then I saw what happened."

"At first I kinda got scared because I thought it was a high snap," joked Wilson. "And then I saw Casey (Skowron) running and I was like 'Oh, I've seen this in practice a couple times'."

"I was on the sideline, getting ready to get on D just in case he did miss it, we'd be ready to run out there," added Tra'Mayne Bondurant. "We'd been running it all week, so I didn't think we were going to run it but it was the perfect timing for the call and it was a great call and they executed it well, and I was super-excited for Casey as well."

[azpenguin]

Drew Riggleman is fourth nationally in punting. .03 behind Tom Hackett for third place, and averaged 50+ last week.

[UAEebs86]

Drew Riggleman is fourth nationally in punting. .03 behind Tom Hackett for third place, and averaged 50+ last week.

Fun fact: Did you know Tom Hackett is Australian?

[Catstatic]

Drew Riggleman is fourth nationally in punting. .03 behind Tom Hackett for third place, and averaged 50+ last week.

Would never have guessed this. Well done, Drew and special teams coaches!! It is a great time to be a Wildcat!

Go Cats!!

[Merkin]

Drew Riggleman is fourth nationally in punting. .03 behind Tom Hackett for third place, and averaged 50+ last week.

Would never have guessed this. Well done, Drew and special teams coaches!! It is a great time to be a Wildcat!

Go Cats!!

What's amazing is that the UA does not even have a designated ST coach. Ragle is the ST coordinator, who also does tight ends.

[azgreg]

Holy shit!!

[wyo-cat]

Riggleman broke that shit off in the ass of CU