Little things that could mean a lot

[Guest]

It's all about the blocking.

or Leavitt's unwillingness to put anyone north of the 2-deep on the special teams unit.

this was the most frustrating part of our team last year (lack of field position and giving up way too much field position) that pretty much cost us the UConn game.

In fact, I would say of the 44 positions on the four kick and kick coverage teams, 30-35 of them were filled by people on the offense or defense 2-deep.

you sure that is a fact?

there were a lot of guys who played key positions on special teams that really had no business being out there or werent coached properly.

i dont know which one it was but it was clear that leavitt never really cared about special teams...or didnt know how to do anything about it.

Now I could agree with this... if you're not coached on how to cover a kick or block properly on a return, it's hard to do well.

But yes, I am quite sure most of the people on special teams were first or second stringers on offense or defense.

Here is a good look -- at about the 5:27 mark of this video is a punt by Miami. On the kick return team - and identifiable - are Nate Allen (#5), Kayvon Webster (#6), Jerome Murphy (#3), Jon Lejiste (#12), Jerrell Young (#1)... just the ones I could see

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Or this one where you can see Murphy, Mistral Raymond (#16), Jaquain Willams (#57), and others on the kick coverage team...

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[cmhatter]

It's all about the blocking.

or Leavitt's unwillingness to put anyone north of the 2-deep on the special teams unit.

this was the most frustrating part of our team last year (lack of field position and giving up way too much field position)  that pretty much cost us the UConn game.

What are you talking about?

Dontavia Bogan was on the 2-deep and was our primary kickoff returner... many of our two-deep were on the special teams as blockers and a lot of our fast defenders were on kick coverage teams.

In fact, I would say of the 44 positions on the four kick and kick coverage teams, 30-35 of them were filled by people on the offense or defense 2-deep.

not true

quite true.

off the top of my head i can name ZERO starters or anyone who played any significant time on kickoff or kick return(non returner)

i'd love to hear of the 44 positions 15 out of the 30+ you claim

[Guest]

It's all about the blocking.

or Leavitt's unwillingness to put anyone north of the 2-deep on the special teams unit.

this was the most frustrating part of our team last year (lack of field position and giving up way too much field position)  that pretty much cost us the UConn game.

What are you talking about?

Dontavia Bogan was on the 2-deep and was our primary kickoff returner... many of our two-deep were on the special teams as blockers and a lot of our fast defenders were on kick coverage teams.

In fact, I would say of the 44 positions on the four kick and kick coverage teams, 30-35 of them were filled by people on the offense or defense 2-deep.

not true

quite true.

off the top of my head i can name ZERO starters or anyone who played any significant time on kickoff or kick return(non returner)

i'd love to hear of the 44 positions 15 out of the 30+ you claim

Punt coverage and punt return are mostly defensive two-deep... punt coverage - the entire OL are starting OL (except for the long snapper).  (The two videos I posted above should be enough -- you can clearly identify 15-20 numbers and most of them are on the two deep).

It's really not that hard, if you think about it.

I'm trying to find videos of USF kickoff returns or coverage - hard to find any since there weren't many highlights. (I found Nate Allen's fumble recovery from the 2008 Louisville Game - that would be starting safety Allen on coverage that season).

[Guest]

Kickoff coverage ...  the hit is from Joel Miller (not on the 2-deep), but you can see #2 Quentin Washington, #9 Ricardo Dixon,#16 Mistral Raymond, #22 George Baker, & #57 Jaquain Williams...

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[South_Florida_Flip]

It's all about the blocking.

Even good blocking didn't stop Hornes from fair catching everything.

[Guest]

It's all about the blocking.

Even good blocking didn't stop Hornes from fair catching everything.

But when he didn't fair catch, he didn't get very far...  (and he didn't always catch it!)

[Matt]

well i think everyone can agree that there is only one direction that our special teams can go next year and that is UP

[Guest]

well i think everyone can agree that there is only one direction that our special teams can go next year and that is UP

Amen!

[Guest]

One more Kick Coverage... usual suspects... plus #10 Colby Erskin (for that game) ... as well some players NOT on the 2-deep (#24 Bradley Battles, #51 Armando Sanchez).

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To be fair, of the 44 kick/punt coverage/return positions... 20-22-24 of them are defensive members who play on two or three of the special teams (Quentin Washington, for example, would take at least 3 of the positions from what I can find on tape.

Was never claiming there were 30+ different first/second teamers that played special teams... just that the 30 special team positions were filled by players on the offense or defense two-deep.

I think this really goes to show that if our best players were playing, and we were that bad, it had to be how we prepared ... which is all about coaching (or lack thereof).

[South_Florida_Flip]

But when he didn't fair catch, he didn't get very far...  (and he didn't always catch it!)

That too.