Now, obviously there's more on special teams than this, receiving teams have kick returners and defenders, kicking teams have blockers and tacklers, but for the most part, those guys have already been mentioned when I talked about their offensive or defensive positions. So, I'm just going to focus on the guys who are pretty much ONLY in on special teams.
Production Lost from Last Year
None
Production Returning from Last Year
PK Sam Crosa went 10 for 10 on FGs with 3 in the 20's, 2 in the 30's, and 5 in the 40's for range. Crosa also was 46 of 49 on XPs.
PK Nathan Erickson had 76 kickoffs with an average of 62.2 yards per, 45 TBs and 1 OB. Erickson also went 2 for 3 on FGs, hitting from 52 and 45 and missing from 43. Additionally, Erickson punted twice with a 31 yards per punt average and 1 inside the 20.
P Adam Fellner punted 60 times with a 38.57 yard average and a long of 62 yards. He had 7 TBs, 12 fair catches, 16 inside the 20, 9 of 50+ yards and 1 blocked.
And because we do have kick/punt return stats, I'll mention those guys as well. All players who returned kicks last year are back this year.
Steve McShane returned 13 punts for an average of 18.46 yards, a long of 81 and 1 TD. He also returned 1 kickoff for 13 yards.
Darron Wheeler returned 27 kickoffs for 22.78 yards each and a long of 42. He also returned one punt for -3 yards.
Clint Ratkovich returned 11 kickoffs for 21.18 yards each, and Justin Fitzpatrick returned 1 kick for 0 yards.
My View
So, since we didn't have any turnover in the special teams-specific guys or the kick/punt returners, I imagine we'll see much the same lineup as we did last year. We have added true freshman kicker Luis Torres from Blue Island, IL, but assuming no problems with the guys we had last year, I'd imagine he'll be redshirted and take over after Crosa is done after the 2019 season. Crosa was perfect on FGs with a long of 45. I imagine since Erickson was put in for FGs of 43, 45, and 52, then that means that, at least last year, Crosa struggled a bit with the longer FGs. Unless Crosa has upped his leg strength or accuracy from long distance, Erickson will probably be put in for FG attempts of 45+ yards. But in general, we'll likely see Crosa handling most FGs and XPs, Fellner handling punts, Erickson handling kickoffs, and Varga doing the long snapping.
Scott Lawson - Board Admin