When is the last time we had a KO or Punt returned for a TD?

Johnathan "Freddie" Smith returned two punts for TD's in 2003. One against North Carolina, the other against Virginia.

Last KO return touchdown....I don't think it has happened in the 21st century. Does it really go all the way back to Charlie Rogers?
 
It's amazing that we have totally negated special teams as a threat. We have settled on slow "sure-handed" return personnel who will never break a big play. We all know how well that turned out against UVA. Why, when we definitely have the talent to break one? Is this another Chan "low-risk" philosophy??
 
Evans isn't slow, but he's not the fastest guy on the team either. And Evans didn't fumble against UVA, his backup did when he was injured and out of the game. I agree that we could have more of a threat back there, but if you're going to complain about something at least know what you're talking about.
 
ncjacket said:
Evans isn't slow, but he's not the fastest guy on the team either. And Evans didn't fumble against UVA, his backup did when he was injured and out of the game. I agree that we could have more of a threat back there, but if you're going to complain about something at least know what you're talking about.
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You're the first person to mention Evans in this thread.
 
So who else do you think M-train is talking about? Surely he's not suggesting Dwyer isn't fast enough to return kickoffs?
 
Evans isn't slow, but he's not the fastest guy on the team either. And Evans didn't fumble against UVA, his backup did when he was injured and out of the game. I agree that we could have more of a threat back there, but if you're going to complain about something at least know what you're talking about.
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I wasn't referring to Evans in particular, or the walk-on who fumbled. My point was that we have seem to have a coaching philosophy that will not put a more talented return threat in the position. I have to assume this is so that punts won't be fumbled.....and look what happened. I'd like to see us give someone a shot to make a big play there. Dwyer seems to me to be a good choice...
 
Some guys can run with the ball but can't field a punt. others have glue for hands and can field it even with pressure on them but aren't a threat to score (see Rhino). I don't know enough about the quicker backs/receiver/DB types on our roster to know who has returned punts or has the skill set to do so. We do have a commit for next year (Peeples I think?) who is supposed to be a very good return man.
 
How much of our issues could be attributed to the rest of the team that is on the field? Sure, we need someone back there with speed, great hands, and great vision, but if the rest of the guys dont set up good lanes, you still arent going anywhere. With the lack of depth over the past couple of years, we have relied a lot on the young guys / non starters to take on these roles. If we had more experienced guys on the field, how much of a difference would it make?
 
That's a good point SMoney. If someone were to have a TD return on our STs they would have done it pretty much on their own. Particularly on punt returns I don't know what we're trying to do but we almost never give the return man a chance.
 
ncjacket said:
That's a good point SMoney. If someone were to have a TD return on our STs they would have done it pretty much on their own. Particularly on punt returns I don't know what we're trying to do but we almost never give the return man a chance.
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Are you sure our coverage is bad? We are ranked pretty highly in KO and/or PR average.
 
Well, I'm not talking about coverage but returns. And on punt returns in particular, what we've gotten the return men have gotten on their own. Saturday for example, on most MD punts, our return man fielded it and had 3-5 MD guys staring him down.
 
ncjacket said:
Well, I'm not talking about coverage but returns. And on punt returns in particular, what we've gotten the return men have gotten on their own. Saturday for example, on most MD punts, our return man fielded it and had 3-5 MD guys staring him down.
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Not every punt is returnable for a TD...
 
One factor is that the Reggie Bush type guys are a known commodity in high school and they usually go to one of the factories instead of Tech. Our stats on returns are actually pretty good this year, but we don't really have the athlete with enough speed to take it to the house.

Until a few years ago, the Tampa Bay Bucs had never returned a KO for a TD in their history. I wonder if that's still true.
 
GTKyle said:
Not every punt is returnable for a TD...
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Not arguing that Kyle. What I'm saying is we're basically puting a guy back there and saying "dont' fumble, get what you can", but we don't seem to try very hard to set up a big return. If that's the case, we don't need a big return guy because he won't have much help.
 
This thread is dumb.

First of all, I've got about 10 things I'd complain about on this year's team before I'd complain about Special Teams. Our Special Teams rock this year. They're our best squad.

Second, returning a punt or a kick for a TD is a rare occurrence for any squad, so not having one isn't indicative of not trying. Someone tell me what the NCAA average is for returns-for-TDs for any given squad on a yearly basis before they harsh on our team.

Third, complaining when we go with a "sure handed" returner approach is especially dumb when a more sure-handed returner would have won us the UVA game.

This thread is wrong on every level.


beej67,
chants "don't fumble don't fumble don't fumble" for all returns since the Peach Bowl vs LSU, and can name a lot more games where fumbling a punt killed us than where returning a punt would have won it for us
 
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