My one hope for next year....

TechGator1066

TechGator1066

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is that we put a PLAYMAKER back to return punts!!!! No more walk-ons!!! If CPJ does that, I'll go apesh!t.
 
Doesn't Navy have a really good return man? It seems he would lean towards putting a playmaker back there.
 
I've been screaiming this for a while. We're the only team I can think of that opts for a "safe" return man that happens to be a walk on. Lets see some speed back there.
 
My one hope:The "super-flexbone" formation ala Fridge..Nesbitt at QB,Dwyer at FB,Greg Smith and Corey Earls as the WB.Put Earls in motion, PA to Dwyer, bomb it to Earls. TD
 
I'm happy as long as we don't fumble. See: UVA.
 
When was the last time you saw a kickoff returned for a TD? I'm inclined to say Charlie Rogers in the loss to BC in the late 90's.

I think Jonathan Smith housed two punts against UNC in 2003 ... but prior to that ....... uhhhh ..... maybe Charlie Rogers again vs. Virginia?
 
Return yards are very nice if you can get them, but the only thing that really matters is #1 holding onto the football and #2 not losing yards. Anything else is just icing.
 
RamblinPeck said:
Return yards are very nice if you can get them, but the only thing that really matters is #1 holding onto the football and #2 not losing yards. Anything else is just icing.
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...and do you think a coach such as Frank Beamer feels that way? Personally, I hope CPJ will view punts as opportunities to make something happen rather than just damage control.
 
RamblinPeck said:
Return yards are very nice if you can get them, but the only thing that really matters is #1 holding onto the football and #2 not losing yards. Anything else is just icing.
Click to expand...

#1 Put pressure on the opposing team. This happens before the ball is snapped. A dangerous return man causes more shanks, more chances for punt blocks, etc.
#2 Catch the punt
#3 Make something happen.

I can deal with losses on a few punts if we are rewarded with long returns. A 20-30 yd returns means almost guaranteed points on a drive. I'll give up 3-5 yards on a return for the chance at that short field. Regardless of the lost yards on a PR, it's still 1st and 10 on the next play.
 
WaCoJacket said:
#1 Put pressure on the opposing team. This happens before the ball is snapped. A dangerous return man causes more shanks, more chances for punt blocks, etc.
#2 Catch the punt
#3 Make something happen.

I can deal with losses on a few punts if we are rewarded with long returns. A 20-30 yd returns means almost guaranteed points on a drive. I'll give up 3-5 yards on a return for the chance at that short field. Regardless of the lost yards on a PR, it's still 1st and 10 on the next play.
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Understood completely, and believe me, I want a quick and shifty playmaker back there as much as any of the rest of us, but the first priority of special teams is to not let it bite you in the ass, the second priority is to make them bite the other team in the ass.

Granted, thats a little bit of a "not to lose" mentality, but given that we're short of depth, and probably will be for another year or two (though hopefully solve that problem asap with our new man PJ) I can deal with conseratism on the receiving side of the punt team just due to numbers. But if we got a kid with sure hands and wheels, and can take a hit like a Rhino, put him back there and lets hope he takes one to the house!
 
RamblinPeck said:
Granted, thats a little bit of a "not to lose" mentality, but given that we're short of depth, and probably will be for another year or two (though hopefully solve that problem asap with our new man PJ) I can deal with conseratism on the receiving side of the punt team just due to numbers. But if we got a kid with sure hands and wheels, and can take a hit like a Rhino, put him back there and lets hope he takes one to the house!
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Our "lack of depth" is oversold. We have a 2-deep of people to play and decided not to develop depth. Look at the lack of carries to #21, lack of passes from Booker/Nesbitt, lack of PT for other CB/LB. It's impossible to "lack depth" for 6 years. It was Chan's fault. Depth was there but not developed.

But yeah, we're on the same page.
 
We actually we're pretty high up in punt return yards last season, even with that white walk-on.

I think that this "playmaker" talk is overblown. If you look around the country, you don't see too many returned punts for touchdowns. For example, when was the last time a punt was returned for a touchdown against us. Maybe I'm horribly forgetting something, but it seems like it's been a long time.
 
floridajacket said:
We actually we're pretty high up in punt return yards last season, even with that white walk-on.

I think that this "playmaker" talk is overblown. If you look around the country, you don't see too many returned punts for touchdowns. For example, when was the last time a punt was returned for a touchdown against us. Maybe I'm horribly forgetting something, but it seems like it's been a long time.
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Our punters have been off the charts lately.

When is the last time we were struggling to score and a PR gave us a short field? ]

Why did our PR fair catch so many punts last year?

The color of the PR doesn't matter. Our guy wasn't a threat to do anything. Let's see what the new coach does there. I don't think we see the same guy there again. Navy returned a punt this year.
 
floridajacket said:
We actually we're pretty high up in punt return yards last season, even with that white walk-on.

I think that this "playmaker" talk is overblown. If you look around the country, you don't see too many returned punts for touchdowns. For example, when was the last time a punt was returned for a touchdown against us. Maybe I'm horribly forgetting something, but it seems like it's been a long time.
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The most recent one I remember was Ugag 2 years ago in Atlanta. Their offense was shut down. Then their punt returner broke a long one (not a touchdown, but almost to our red zone). They scored the winning touchdown on that drive late in the game. So, imho, it can mean the difference in the close games. If you have an offense that is struggling that seems like all the more reason to try to make big plays in special teams. If Johnson's offense is as good at scoring as we hope, I could actually understand better the reasons for playing a conservative return game.
 
I for one thought T Evans did a pretty good job. He was instructed to fair catch it many times but he still came out with an Avg near the top of the ACC. Some of our fastest players, as we know from the many drops this year, don't have the best hands. We rarely set up a return anyway, often going for the block and thus leaving the return man to get his head knocked off if he elected to return the ball.
 
ok one thing yall need to get this straight. tyler evans is probably one of the fastest white kids i have ever met. i had the pleasure of going to his high school and am pretty good friends with him. he can probably run around a 4.5 or so. anyways, he has not ONCE muffed a punt. the only muffed punt you will see is when andrew smith is back there aka the reason we lost to virginia. also the entire reason we do not see a punt return for a touchdown is the type of coverage he had. each time we would go for the block and not set up for the return. he has told us several times that that is the type of punt coverage that was called even so...tyler has been consistently at the top of the acc even and as a TRUE freshman last year. just look at his runs, he always makes the first guy miss. its just there are always tons of the opponents breathing down his neck.

yall are completely ignorant in thinking that a walk-on can not compete. he was only a walk-on becuase of the probation that tech has been under the last couple of years. he was asked by gailey and other coaches to come to tech so that he could be the punt returner.

i cant wait to see what kind of damage he can do next year when PJ actually calls for a decent punt coverage.
 
p.s. he was two votes from voted to be second team all ACC.

still not good enough for u?
 
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