6A — Thursday, October 12, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Grading Michigan’s special teams unit through five games
New punters. New kickers.
New returners. New everything.
Special teams coordinator
Chris Partridge has had a lot
on his plate this year, which
has been a big change from
last season when just two
players handled all of the
responsibilities.
Former
Wolverine
Kenny
Allen used to command all
three kicking duties (kickoffs,
punts and field goals), and
former linebacker and Heisman
finalist Jabrill
Peppers
used
to line up for
every punt and
kick return.
But Allen and
Peppers
have
left Ann Arbor,
and new players
had to step in.
Partridge
had
to modify and
rework
the
starters in the first few games,
but it seems like the depth chart
is now finalized.
With midterm season in full
swing at the University, here
are our grades for Michigan
football’s
different
special
teams groups.
Kickoffs
Redshirt junior kicker James
Foug owns this spot. Now in
his fourth year on the team,
Foug has solidified his role as
Michigan’s starting kicker. He’s
got a strong leg — about two-
thirds of his kickoffs go for
touchbacks — and Partridge has
taken notice.
“He’s
developed
tremendously,” Partridge said.
“He’s a guy who last year was
just
behind
Kenny
(Allen).
It was close, but we had the
experience of Kenny so we went
with him.
“But James had a great year
this year, and he’s doing a great
job of putting the ball up there
high and giving our kickoff
team a nice advantage there.”
Partridge noted that Foug
worked all summer to give his
kicks a longer hang time.
It’s paying off.
Grade: A
Punting
The punter position hasn’t
been as steady for Michigan.
Redshirt freshman Will Hart
punted in the first three games
against
Florida,
Cincinnati
and Air Force, averaging 37.9
yards per punt. To put that in
perspective,
Allen
averaged
43.3
yards
per
punt last year.
Hart
was
subbed
out
for
freshman
Brad
Robbins
at
the
start of the Big
Ten season, and
so Robbins seems
to have the upper
hand so far.
Robbins’
punts
average
42.6 yards — just shorter than
Allen’s. He also displayed his
good catching ability in the
rainy game against Michigan
State, a rivalry game that has
a recent history of punters
making crucial mistakes.
Partridge said that the “sky
is the limit” for Robbins and
that the true freshman has done
everything they’ve asked of him
so far.
While both Hart and Robbins
have seen a few whiffed punts
skim off the side of their foot,
there have been no major
miscues.
Grade: B
Field goal
The field goal unit has been
spot on.
Redshirt
freshman
kicker
Quinn Nordin has converted 86
percent of his field goals, and
his only two misses came in the
season opener against Florida.
The
group
consists
of
Nordin,
fifth-year
senior
holder Garrett Moores and
redshirt freshman long snapper
Cameron Cheeseman. The trio
played a big part in getting the
Wolverines
through
games
early in the season and may be
called upon again.
Grade: A+
Punt return
Freshman receiver Donovan
Peoples-Jones is gutsy, and it
almost cost him the starting
punt returner job.
Since a few questionable
fair-catch
decisions
against
Cincinnati, Peoples-Jones has
been solid. He returned a punt
for a touchdown against Air
Force, and the coaches continue
to express their faith in his
ability.
“You haven’t seen the last
of (Peoples-Jones) in the end
zone,” Partridge said. “He’s
getting really comfortable back
there. I think we’ll have some
big plays out of him coming
forward.”
As a returner, Peoples-Jones
is fearless. Partridge said that
he has a great ability to track
the ball, catch it and then make
one or two defenders miss.
“And he’s big, so he can
run through those tackles,”
Partridge said. “He’s fast, so he
can break open when he makes
them miss.”
Grade: B+
Kick return
Sophomore receiver Kekoa
Crawford started the season as
Michigan’s lead kick returner,
but freshman defensive back
Ambry Thomas took over for
Crawford
against
Michigan
State last weekend.
Thomas returned one kick for
30 yards against the Spartans,
almost breaking loose for a
bigger gain.
“Ambry’s ready,” Partridge
said. “He’s ready to go back
there now. He’s explosive, he’s
fast, he’s fearless. Really excited
about him.”
The kickoff return blocking
is one area Partridge thinks
needs to improve. Even if only
one player misses his block,
opponents can make the tackle.
That’s the difference between
a 30-yard kick return and a
touchdown.
If the blocking improves,
Partridge expects Thomas —
or whoever returns the kicks
— to break one through for a
touchdown soon.
Grade: B-
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Redshirt freshman kicker Quinn Nordin continues to excel for the Wolverines, as he has now converted on 12 of his 14 field goal attempts through five games.
TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
You haven’t
seen the last of
(Peoples-Jones)
in the end zone.
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan’s special teams
42.6
Yards per punt for freshman Brad
Robbins through the last two games.
86
Percent of field goals converted
by redshirt freshman kicker Quinn
Nordin.
33.6
Punt-return yards per game for
freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones.