boomdaddy's thread on dangerous return threats got me thinking about special teams.
Going back to Bill Curry and even Jerry Claiborne (UK beating UT with an Andy Molls punt return for a TD, etc.), UK often had special teams play that varied from anywhere from very good to outstanding. Some recent staffs had excellent special teams coaches (Ortmeyer, Nelson...Claude Bassett, much maligned for other reasons, generally put good units on the field) and some had excellent individual performers (returners, long snappers, kick blockers, etc.) That evaporated when Joker fired Ortmeyer (a 17 year NFL veteran) and hired Greg Nord to replace him. That's not a knock on Nord, but there was a huge drop off at that point, and I don't think Joker's terrible recruiting helped.
Kio Sanford was an excellent returner. He set SEC return records on bad UK teams and finished in the top 10 in six different SEC career return records. He was freshman All SEC, suffered some injuries after that, but was still dangerous. He set the SEC record for return yardage and averages in a season - as a freshman. Even though injuries limited him to 9 games as a sophomore he was still #2 in the SEC in kickoff return yardage. As a junior in 1996 he had 3 punt returns for 100 yards against Louisville. He was also an effective and dangerous receiver who had some huge plays, including one against Tennessee in 1997 that made highlight reels for a year and either won or was a finalist for an ESPY. Kio Sanford is a very underrated, underappreciated Wildcat.
Mumme's teams overall performed well on special teams; their averages and scoring were good. Snakebite persisted, though. Some of the most memorable special team moments under Mumme were blunders that came at the worst possible times. The FG attempt to beat Georgia in 1998 that ended with a fumbled snap, the blocked FG to beat Louisville at the end of the game in 2000 that was blocked - those both cost games. But there was also the blocked FG for a TD that helped beat Alabama in 1997, and two blocked kicks in the 1999 Music City Bowl. Overall, statistically, those units played well under Mumme and Bassett. I think it also helped that they were willing to give scholarships to specialists out of high school, and landed some really good ones. Craig Yeast was good enough to return in the NFL.
UK's special teams were remarkable under Morriss. Mark Nelson was a terrific ST coach. Glenn Pakulak was the best punter in the country in 2002, and the best in the SEC in 2001. UK probably had the best special teams overall in the entire country in 2002. Derek Abney was the best punt returner in the SEC in 2002, with 4 TDs (and 1 in 2001), and the #2 kick returner, statistically, in the SEC in 2002 (2 TDs). Abney was also the #1 kick returner statistically, and maybe the best punt returner in 2003 despite getting banged up. Abney was the first player in NCAA history with 2,000 receiving yards, 2,000 kick return yards, and 1,000 punt return yards. I don't remember how many TDs Abney had called back. 4? 6? 8? It was something like that. One of them would've beaten Florida in 2003.
UK's special teams were often excellent under Brooks, too. He hired a really good ST coach in Steve Ortmeyer. The 2005 team was in the top 5 in the NCAA in both kick returns and punt returns. Rafael Little was the #1 punt returner in the SEC, statistically, in 2005, with a 16.9 yard average. He missed 4 games due to injury in 2006 but UK still ended up as the only team in the NCAA in the top 10 in both kick returns and punt returns. (Little had return TDs called back on penalties in both of those years.) Mostly forgotten now, Draak Davis was the #2 kick returner in the SEC in 2005, averaging 25.6 an finishing behind only Felix Jones, who was a first round NFL draft pick and might have been an All American if he hadn't been on the same team as Darren McFadden. Keenan Burton is remembered as a WR but his 24.7 yard average on kickoff returns was #3 in the SEC in 2006. (He also had a TD called back against Vanderbilt that year.) Glenn Holt Jr. isn't much remembered now but he played in the NFL as a returner for a while after doing the same at UK. Tim Masthay was an All-SEC punter at UK under Brooks before going on to a long, ongoing NFL career. Masthay's stats were #1 in the SEC in 2008. Dicky Lyons was a good punt returner. In one year, Lonnell DeWalt blocked 7 kicks; that same year, Jacob Tamme blocked 2 punts and Curtis Pulley bocked 2 FGs. Randall Cobb averaged 12.8 yards per punt return in 2009, #3 in the SEC behind Trindon Holliday and Javier Arenas, both of whom were outstanding. Cobb took one back for TD that year. Derrick Locke had the third best kickoff return average in the SEC in 2009, 27.8 yards per kick with one TD. UK's team average in that category that year was a terrific 27.3.
UK also had kickers in those years who hung a lot of touchbacks on opponents: Lones Seiber, Craig McIntosh ("Touchback Mac") and Joe Mansour. That's a big help to a defense.
When Joker became head coach, even though he and Ortmeyer coached together under Brooks, Joker didn't retain Ortmeyer. Things went downhill fast. Joker did a terrible job recruiting and landing players but the ST play almost immediately went from excellent to below average. Cobb managed one ST TD in 2010 and Ryan Tydlacka usually did an OK job punting but that was about it. Averaged plunged in ST (and everywhere else). Tydlacka had good stats in 2011: 17 punts inside the 20, 43.6 average, 39.5 net. But UK averaged less than 2 yards per punt return that same season and its kickoff return average was 20.3, about the same as taking a knee in the end zone.
Under Stoops, Craig Naviar did a solid job trying to rebuild as ST coach, especially given where Joker left the program. Landon Foster had pretty decent punting averages, and netted 39.5 in 2012 which was very good. Demarco Robinson had the fourth best punt return average in the SEC in 2013. UK gave up 4 returns for TDs in 2014. Special teams didn't get back to where they were under Brooks, Morriss or even Mumme, but they were improving, and losing Naviar and not replacing him set the team back in that category. ST was a weakness in 2015. The bright spot was Austin McGinnis. His 21 FGs was a school record for a season and so were his 54 yarder and his 25 touchbacks (on 67 kickoffs). He also broke Moe Williams' record for most points in a season and was 41 for 41 kicking extra points. McGinniss had a groin injury in 2015. That aside, UK's return yardage, and TDs (zero) have been far below average, and nowhere near the outstanding results for UK in prior years.
UK enjoyed a lot of outstanding special teams play under Mumme, Morriss and Brooks, but it became pretty bad under Joker and hasn't recovered yet. It's an area in which UK needs to improve. I think that's possibly more difficult now, as some of the power programs are quicker to offer scholarships out of high school to specialists than they were in years past. But having a dedicated ST coach is a necessity; UK didn't have one last year. Having a solid ST coach like Nelson or Ortmeyer can, alone, impact the W/L column. Here's hoping.
Going back to Bill Curry and even Jerry Claiborne (UK beating UT with an Andy Molls punt return for a TD, etc.), UK often had special teams play that varied from anywhere from very good to outstanding. Some recent staffs had excellent special teams coaches (Ortmeyer, Nelson...Claude Bassett, much maligned for other reasons, generally put good units on the field) and some had excellent individual performers (returners, long snappers, kick blockers, etc.) That evaporated when Joker fired Ortmeyer (a 17 year NFL veteran) and hired Greg Nord to replace him. That's not a knock on Nord, but there was a huge drop off at that point, and I don't think Joker's terrible recruiting helped.
Kio Sanford was an excellent returner. He set SEC return records on bad UK teams and finished in the top 10 in six different SEC career return records. He was freshman All SEC, suffered some injuries after that, but was still dangerous. He set the SEC record for return yardage and averages in a season - as a freshman. Even though injuries limited him to 9 games as a sophomore he was still #2 in the SEC in kickoff return yardage. As a junior in 1996 he had 3 punt returns for 100 yards against Louisville. He was also an effective and dangerous receiver who had some huge plays, including one against Tennessee in 1997 that made highlight reels for a year and either won or was a finalist for an ESPY. Kio Sanford is a very underrated, underappreciated Wildcat.
Mumme's teams overall performed well on special teams; their averages and scoring were good. Snakebite persisted, though. Some of the most memorable special team moments under Mumme were blunders that came at the worst possible times. The FG attempt to beat Georgia in 1998 that ended with a fumbled snap, the blocked FG to beat Louisville at the end of the game in 2000 that was blocked - those both cost games. But there was also the blocked FG for a TD that helped beat Alabama in 1997, and two blocked kicks in the 1999 Music City Bowl. Overall, statistically, those units played well under Mumme and Bassett. I think it also helped that they were willing to give scholarships to specialists out of high school, and landed some really good ones. Craig Yeast was good enough to return in the NFL.
UK's special teams were remarkable under Morriss. Mark Nelson was a terrific ST coach. Glenn Pakulak was the best punter in the country in 2002, and the best in the SEC in 2001. UK probably had the best special teams overall in the entire country in 2002. Derek Abney was the best punt returner in the SEC in 2002, with 4 TDs (and 1 in 2001), and the #2 kick returner, statistically, in the SEC in 2002 (2 TDs). Abney was also the #1 kick returner statistically, and maybe the best punt returner in 2003 despite getting banged up. Abney was the first player in NCAA history with 2,000 receiving yards, 2,000 kick return yards, and 1,000 punt return yards. I don't remember how many TDs Abney had called back. 4? 6? 8? It was something like that. One of them would've beaten Florida in 2003.
UK's special teams were often excellent under Brooks, too. He hired a really good ST coach in Steve Ortmeyer. The 2005 team was in the top 5 in the NCAA in both kick returns and punt returns. Rafael Little was the #1 punt returner in the SEC, statistically, in 2005, with a 16.9 yard average. He missed 4 games due to injury in 2006 but UK still ended up as the only team in the NCAA in the top 10 in both kick returns and punt returns. (Little had return TDs called back on penalties in both of those years.) Mostly forgotten now, Draak Davis was the #2 kick returner in the SEC in 2005, averaging 25.6 an finishing behind only Felix Jones, who was a first round NFL draft pick and might have been an All American if he hadn't been on the same team as Darren McFadden. Keenan Burton is remembered as a WR but his 24.7 yard average on kickoff returns was #3 in the SEC in 2006. (He also had a TD called back against Vanderbilt that year.) Glenn Holt Jr. isn't much remembered now but he played in the NFL as a returner for a while after doing the same at UK. Tim Masthay was an All-SEC punter at UK under Brooks before going on to a long, ongoing NFL career. Masthay's stats were #1 in the SEC in 2008. Dicky Lyons was a good punt returner. In one year, Lonnell DeWalt blocked 7 kicks; that same year, Jacob Tamme blocked 2 punts and Curtis Pulley bocked 2 FGs. Randall Cobb averaged 12.8 yards per punt return in 2009, #3 in the SEC behind Trindon Holliday and Javier Arenas, both of whom were outstanding. Cobb took one back for TD that year. Derrick Locke had the third best kickoff return average in the SEC in 2009, 27.8 yards per kick with one TD. UK's team average in that category that year was a terrific 27.3.
UK also had kickers in those years who hung a lot of touchbacks on opponents: Lones Seiber, Craig McIntosh ("Touchback Mac") and Joe Mansour. That's a big help to a defense.
When Joker became head coach, even though he and Ortmeyer coached together under Brooks, Joker didn't retain Ortmeyer. Things went downhill fast. Joker did a terrible job recruiting and landing players but the ST play almost immediately went from excellent to below average. Cobb managed one ST TD in 2010 and Ryan Tydlacka usually did an OK job punting but that was about it. Averaged plunged in ST (and everywhere else). Tydlacka had good stats in 2011: 17 punts inside the 20, 43.6 average, 39.5 net. But UK averaged less than 2 yards per punt return that same season and its kickoff return average was 20.3, about the same as taking a knee in the end zone.
Under Stoops, Craig Naviar did a solid job trying to rebuild as ST coach, especially given where Joker left the program. Landon Foster had pretty decent punting averages, and netted 39.5 in 2012 which was very good. Demarco Robinson had the fourth best punt return average in the SEC in 2013. UK gave up 4 returns for TDs in 2014. Special teams didn't get back to where they were under Brooks, Morriss or even Mumme, but they were improving, and losing Naviar and not replacing him set the team back in that category. ST was a weakness in 2015. The bright spot was Austin McGinnis. His 21 FGs was a school record for a season and so were his 54 yarder and his 25 touchbacks (on 67 kickoffs). He also broke Moe Williams' record for most points in a season and was 41 for 41 kicking extra points. McGinniss had a groin injury in 2015. That aside, UK's return yardage, and TDs (zero) have been far below average, and nowhere near the outstanding results for UK in prior years.
UK enjoyed a lot of outstanding special teams play under Mumme, Morriss and Brooks, but it became pretty bad under Joker and hasn't recovered yet. It's an area in which UK needs to improve. I think that's possibly more difficult now, as some of the power programs are quicker to offer scholarships out of high school to specialists than they were in years past. But having a dedicated ST coach is a necessity; UK didn't have one last year. Having a solid ST coach like Nelson or Ortmeyer can, alone, impact the W/L column. Here's hoping.
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