Sporting News Names DPE Pre-Season All-American Punt Returner

[Mavric]

Dont forget Octavious McFarlin.

Octavious McFarlin threatened to kill me once. True story. Good times.

Wha?? Huh? Hey, you can't just thrown that out there without a backstory!

I was reffing an intramural basketball game where most of both teams were Husker football players. McFarlin, Dave Volk, Joe Walker, etc. They were getting a little mouthy to each other and I was just praying a fight didn't break out. Didn't think they were that upset with the officiating until after the game when I turned around and McFarlin was right in my face. He told me "If I ever find you outside the Rec, I'll bury you" or some close derivation thereof. I tried not to be found outside the Rec.

 

[NUance]

Ha ha! Here's the whole return vs. Iowa:



You can hear the call at 1:08 in this Youtube: LINK

 

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[Mierin]

Ameer made a name for himself as a returner his freshman year and everytime thereafter, throughout his career, Bo put him back there to return in any 'grunch' time: he was good at it.

As a KICK returner. He had 15 returns as a freshman for 7.1 yard average, and 16 as a sophomore for 13.1 yard average. 1 touchdown. Never returned another punt again.

Kicks, punts, what's the diff? I guess they didn't want to use him on punts his last 2 years once he became a force @ RB. The guy could return the ball, is what I'm saying.
Kickoff Returns: Career: 61 ret. 1,592 yds, 1 TD, 26.1 ave , long of 100 vs. Fresno St. (2011)

2014: 14 returns, 392 yards, 28.0 ave, long of 76 vs. Rutgers

2013: 4 returns, 77 yards, 0 TDs, 19.2 ave, long of 24 vs. Northwestern

2012: 17 returns, 360 yards, 0 TDs, 21.2 ave, long of 83 vs. Wisconsin

2011: 26 returns, 763 yards, 1 TD, 29.3 ave, long of 100 vs. Fresno State (TD)

There's a big difference.

Yeah, on k/os you generally have to run farther to score.

You're being pretty ignorant here. Not sure if it's true ignorance or for the fun of it. The two kinds of returns are not the same. Some players who are great PR don't do much on KR and vice versa. Ameer had a chance to show he was a great PR and didn't really do much with it, no offense to him. And how well did DPE do on KR? Seeing as I don't remember it, I'm assuming not much. And we can't claim they were resting him.

 

[MasterPulverizer]

Rankings aside (and irrelevant) DPE is a really exciting to watch. Really looking forward to seeing what kind of mad scientist stuff Langsdorf can come up with.

 

[cornographic]

Ameer made a name for himself as a returner his freshman year and everytime thereafter, throughout his career, Bo put him back there to return in any 'grunch' time: he was good at it.

As a KICK returner. He had 15 returns as a freshman for 7.1 yard average, and 16 as a sophomore for 13.1 yard average. 1 touchdown. Never returned another punt again.

Kicks, punts, what's the diff? I guess they didn't want to use him on punts his last 2 years once he became a force @ RB. The guy could return the ball, is what I'm saying.
Kickoff Returns: Career: 61 ret. 1,592 yds, 1 TD, 26.1 ave , long of 100 vs. Fresno St. (2011)

2014: 14 returns, 392 yards, 28.0 ave, long of 76 vs. Rutgers

2013: 4 returns, 77 yards, 0 TDs, 19.2 ave, long of 24 vs. Northwestern

2012: 17 returns, 360 yards, 0 TDs, 21.2 ave, long of 83 vs. Wisconsin

2011: 26 returns, 763 yards, 1 TD, 29.3 ave, long of 100 vs. Fresno State (TD)

There's a big difference.

Yeah, on k/os you generally have to run farther to score.

You're being pretty ignorant here. Not sure if it's true ignorance or for the fun of it. The two kinds of returns are not the same. Some players who are great PR don't do much on KR and vice versa. Ameer had a chance to show he was a great PR and didn't really do much with it, no offense to him. And how well did DPE do on KR? Seeing as I don't remember it, I'm assuming not much. And we can't claim they were resting him.

I'm still waiting for a detailed explanation as to the big difference between k/o and punt returning. On punts, you have guys on top of you quicker, that's about the only significant difference I can see.

 

[Landlord]

I'm still waiting for a detailed explanation as to the big difference between k/o and punt returning. On punts, you have guys on top of you quicker, that's about the only significant difference I can see.

“Punt return and kickoff return are two totally different things,” said veteran dual returner Allen Rostrum. “They are two totally different balls. One is a tight spiral that at times turns over and at times doesn’t. Kickoff is an easier catch because it is a spiral and you can tell where it is going to land. It’s a totally different mindset. You can run forward and catch a kickoff return. Not many people can run forward with a full head of steam and catch a punt. You have to be set with punt returns because the ball can change at any moment because of the style of kick that it is.”
It’s not just fielding the kick that is different. Kickoffs can be more dangerous because the coverage team has built up speed and the returner runs right into them (Take it from Tim Brown). On punt coverage players are more likely to slow down. This means that teams aren’t willing to risk good position players on kick return. They tend to choose straight-forward speedsters who can secure the ball well.

Punt returners have to make a lot more decisions quickly. Only about half of all punts are returned. The player must decide in a split second whether to let the punt go, to fair catch, or to try for a return. If he does go for it, he must have not have excellent footwork and agility in addition to speed. While kickoff returners need to follow their blockers, see the hole, and hit it, punt returners usually have to elude a tackler or two immediately. They cannot build up speed before they must cut left and right.

"Kickoff return is a little different than punt returns because you have so many guys coming down at the same time and you have a chance to generally build some momentum, build some speed and create on the run. Whereas a lot of times on punt returns, they’re right there on top of you, you have to make a quick decision. There’s only two guys down there so usually the gunners, unless the ball has a lot of hang time, but there’s usually that first wave of just two guys or however many of them get down there and then you have that second wave. "So, the ball handling is quite a bit different, I’d say harder, on punts. Certainly the decision making once you get into plus-50 punting and things like that are a little bit different other than making the come out of the end zone or not come out of the end zone (decision) on kick returns. There aren’t a lot of guys in the league that do both. There certainly are some but there are quite a few guys that do one or the other because the skills really are a little bit different."

^ From Bill Belichik

 

[Red Five]

I've always thought of them like this

Kickoffs are more straight speed. Catch the ball, and get up field as fast as possible while looking for a crease.

Punt returns need a guy with some wiggle. There are guys on you right away, so you need to catch the ball and normally make 1 or 2 guys miss right way before being able to get up the field.

 

[cornographic]

I'm still waiting for a detailed explanation as to the big difference between k/o and punt returning. On punts, you have guys on top of you quicker, that's about the only significant difference I can see.

“Punt return and kickoff return are two totally different things,” said veteran dual returner Allen Rostrum. “They are two totally different balls. One is a tight spiral that at times turns over and at times doesn’t. Kickoff is an easier catch because it is a spiral and you can tell where it is going to land. It’s a totally different mindset. You can run forward and catch a kickoff return. Not many people can run forward with a full head of steam and catch a punt. You have to be set with punt returns because the ball can change at any moment because of the style of kick that it is.”
It’s not just fielding the kick that is different. Kickoffs can be more dangerous because the coverage team has built up speed and the returner runs right into them (Take it from Tim Brown). On punt coverage players are more likely to slow down. This means that teams aren’t willing to risk good position players on kick return. They tend to choose straight-forward speedsters who can secure the ball well.

Punt returners have to make a lot more decisions quickly. Only about half of all punts are returned. The player must decide in a split second whether to let the punt go, to fair catch, or to try for a return. If he does go for it, he must have not have excellent footwork and agility in addition to speed. While kickoff returners need to follow their blockers, see the hole, and hit it, punt returners usually have to elude a tackler or two immediately. They cannot build up speed before they must cut left and right.

"Kickoff return is a little different than punt returns because you have so many guys coming down at the same time and you have a chance to generally build some momentum, build some speed and create on the run. Whereas a lot of times on punt returns, they’re right there on top of you, you have to make a quick decision. There’s only two guys down there so usually the gunners, unless the ball has a lot of hang time, but there’s usually that first wave of just two guys or however many of them get down there and then you have that second wave. "So, the ball handling is quite a bit different, I’d say harder, on punts. Certainly the decision making once you get into plus-50 punting and things like that are a little bit different other than making the come out of the end zone or not come out of the end zone (decision) on kick returns. There aren’t a lot of guys in the league that do both. There certainly are some but there are quite a few guys that do one or the other because the skills really are a little bit different."

^ From Bill Belichik

Thanks. Well, I still submit that AA wasn't too shabby a punt returner, when he was still doing it.

 

[Landlord]

Thanks. Well, I still submit that AA wasn't too shabby a punt returner, when he was still doing it.

He wasn't bad by any means, but top 5 all time in program history? Not even close. He had one "great" return, and that was in mop up time against Idaho State.

 

[cornographic]

Thanks. Well, I still submit that AA wasn't too shabby a punt returner, when he was still doing it.

He wasn't bad by any means, but top 5 all time in program history? Not even close. He had one "great" return, and that was in mop up time against Idaho State.

Fair enough.

 

[jmfb]

Rodgers

DPE

Groce

Dana Brinson

Tyrone Hughes

Ive returned both punts and KOs

2 TOTALLY different plays

KOs are much easier

Many guys that return KOs- no coach would ever consider putting them on the field to gather punts