 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
|
Email the author
Searching for Sean Considine
Iowa's special teams remain on the lookout for a spark-type player
Iowa's Keenan Davis (#6) and Steven Staggs (left) walk off the field as Central Michigan players celebrate their win over the Hawkeyes at the end of their game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. Central Michigan won, 32-31. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette-KCRG)
IOWA CITY — The special teams discussion got a little prickly.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was asked about the three onside kicks that have lost Iowa games in the last three seasons. Coming off the onside that tilted last week’s 32-31 toward Central Michigan, the only club in Ferentz’s bag here was prickly.
“What would you guess?” Ferentz said. “We haven’t celebrated, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Moving on to the more informational part of the special teams discussion, Ferentz was asked about who recovers the ball, who blocks and the idea behind who is asked to do what.
“There’s some gray area in it, if you talk to people who know a lot about special teams, there’s a lot of gray area in how you do it,” he said. “There also some gray areas in how you line up. Needless to say, that’s something we’re looking at hard right now.”
Minnesota coach Jerry Kill pulled off an onside kick against the Hawkeyes last season in the Gophers’ 22-21 upset. Jay Sawvel coaches Kill’s defensive backs and special teams. Sawvel hooked on with Kill in 2001 at Southern Illinois and then at Northern Illinois before make the jump to Minnesota in 2011.
That’s 12 seasons as Kill’s special teams coordinator. That’s a lot of time at the video screen conjuring up special teams chicanery. It gives the Gophers (4-0) a special teams edge over Iowa (2-2) when the two teams open their Big Ten schedules Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
It’s probably a good idea to separate special teams into specialists and units. Iowa’s specialists are holding up their end. Kicker Mike Meyer has made 9 of 10 field goals, including a gutsy 46-yarder into the wind last week. Punter Connor Kornbrath averages 35.75 a punt (11th in the Big Ten), but Iowa is locked in on riding the highs and lows of having a true freshman in this position.
Run the numbers for Iowa’s coverage and return units and they all come up in the bottom half of the Big Ten. Punt coverage is ninth at 7.0 yards a return. Kick coverage is eighth with 23.55 yards. Iowa’s punt return is eighth at 5.5. Kick return is 11th with 16.79 per return.
A special teams coordinator who’s been with his head coach since 2001 probably sees opportunity here.
“It just seems like we’re a player short,” Ferentz said. “We’ve talked about this in the past. Like [former Iowa linebacker Tyler] Nielsen being hurt. It seems like one thing leads to another. It’s concerning, because it’s showing up and we’re not getting the edge we need to get on a consistent basis.”
If you examine Iowa’s special teams, it’s pretty much industry standard.
It’s a collaboration between defensive backs coach Darrell Wilson and running backs coach Lester Erb, with graduate assistant Kelvin Bell chipping in. Erb oversees kickers and punter. Wilson does the rest.
The Football Writers Association of America has a directory that lists all 120 FBS coaching staffs. The 2011-12 guide showed just 11 programs with dedicated special teams coaches. Those run the gamut from Army and Hawaii to USC and Kansas State. The standard is one special teams coordinator who also coaches tight ends, running backs, defensive backs or linebackers because special teams are mostly made up of those players.
A dedicated special teams coach is rare. With schools now able to hire four grad assistants instead of three, you’ll probably see more of them involved on special teams.
“I don’t know if there’s a standard operating rule,” Ferentz said. “. . . There are some teams that go that route, but I’d say it’s in the minority. It’s pretty rare to see that, but it’s possibly something you could do.”
Cornerback Micah Hyde has been Iowa’s punt returner the last two seasons. He said Iowa puts the time in on special teams. It’s a good portion of practice. There are special teams meetings.
“It’s not really an excuse [the amount of time Iowa puts in on special teams],” said Hyde, whose 5.5 yards a punt return is fifth in the Big Ten. “We focus a lot on special teams. Coach knows it’s a big asset in the game. I don’t think that’s an excuse, we just need to work a little harder on special teams.”
What Iowa is doing and likely will continue to do is look for the next Sean Considine.
Considine, who’s in his eighth NFL season as a safety, this year with the Baltimore Ravens, made Iowa special teams a weapon in 2003-04. He blocked four punts in his career, with three of the four being recovered for Iowa touchdowns.
A Jayme Murphy wouldn’t be bad. He blew up kicks with abandon before a concussion sidelined him in ’09. A Matt Melloy might be good. He blocked a punt that led to a TD against Florida in the ’04 Outback Bowl. Or maybe an Antwan Allen (returned a blocked field goal 85 yards for a TD against Purdue in 2002) or a D.J. Johnson (who returned a blocked PAT 99 yards for two points against Penn State in ’02).
Someone, anyone.
“If you analyze who those guys were 10 years ago, the door is open for good stories any time,” Ferentz said. “[Running back Mark] Weisman is a good story. We could use a few more of those on special teams, and, hopefully, they’re getting ready to emerge.”
-u20042.png?1366232523)
I really thought Nico Law would provide that spark on defense, based on the Spring practice, but he has not been able to beat out Tom Donatell.
NIco should be getting more field time, its obvious that the D needs some hitters and Nico (from what I’ve read ) is a hitter
There are no excuses, no explanations. You’re a Big Ten football team. You have a $4 million coach, and you repeatedly are out-coached. Repeatedly. Anyting could happen once, but this is systemic — it’s been hashed and rehashed and rehashed some more and the same things keep happening. Different players, even some different asst. coaches, same result. It seem clear where the problem lies.
Coach Ferentz should step up and publicly accept the blame that is clearly his. He should be contrite, not combative. It’s not my fault, or your fault, or the media’s fault that Iowa keeps losing to inferior teams because they are so poorly coached on special teams and clock management and, oh yes, that innovation known as the forward (not lateral) pass.
I don’t know if they’re still doing it, but Texas A&M for years recruited its kickoff team from the student body. Ya wanna spark? Go get 11 kids from the Iowa student body whose sole mission is to cover kicks. I’d be willing to bet they wouldn’t look like fools over and over and over again by onside kicks and fake punts. And even if they were, at least they’d have a good excuse.
Kirk better get with the 2013 recruits because one of the 2 four star recruits is now cosidering Indiana and the other went to South Bend last Saturday.
Get your head out of your A_ _ Kirk and get these kids in the mold your going to need them, unless your not staying next year.
It is beginning to look as though KF’s position is not nearly as unassailable as it once was. The seat, if not hot, is warming up. We are paying too much for the product we are receiving.
sanji and the Davis Boys:
I will give it to you: you are all consistent in your worship at the altar of Kirk.
However, the numbers don’t lie – a BIG part of the Iowa winning all those close games under KF in 2002-2004 was because of truly “special” special teams play. As the years went on, mediocre to poor special teams play have absolutely KILLED the Hawks – and it shows up most when KF, who LOVES to keep EVERY game close = especially the ones versus weaker teams. This gives the underdogs every opportunity in the world to win with just a few breaks – which is why NW, Indy, Minny, CMU, etc. have been so successful/highly competitive the past 7-8 years against us.
So give KF a lifetime extension if you want fellas, but I’d at least prefer that he required to provide 3 quality units most Saturdays in order to earn that money.
Hey everyone, I don’t know when this happened, but I’ve recently been made the moderator.
I’ve let everything through. I appreciate the respectful discussion, more than you know.
Thanks for posting.
For special teams, I think the pool of players Iowa currently draws from is extremely young and that translates into some tentative play.
This week, I think LB Marcus Collins is iffy. He was on crutches at the end of the game last week and is booted up.
I’m beginning to wonder if our problems with special teams aren’t a factor of their being TOO MANY coaches involved, not too few. I understand that we will never have a dedicated special teams coach, that it is a luxury few can afford given NCAA restrictions. But I don’t wonder if the practice of having Wilson and Erb plus whatever GAs coach the special teams the problem itself in that, they’re spread too thin looking at their specific areas and no one is taking an overall, big-picture look at the special teams.