‘It starts with that.’ New Kentucky coach places high value on special teams.
The University of Kentucky football program did not have a designated special teams coordinator last season. That won’t be the case in 2021.
In addition to coaching UK’s running backs, incoming hire Jemal Singleton will guide the Wildcats’ “other” unit, which multiple times during the 2020 season had breakdowns that led to fourth-down conversions. Kentucky also was among the 24 teams in major college football that gave up a punt return touchdown in 2020, and one of only two Southeastern Conference teams to do so (Arkansas, the other, surrendered two).
Kentucky also for the second straight season, and third time over the last four years, failed to return at least one kickoff or punt for a score. Point-producing returns, of course, are tougher to come by between rule changes and more powerful kickers — most fielded kicks are fair caught without any type of return, period — but that area of the game is one in which Singleton can see UK taking a step forward.
He previously was the special teams coordinator at his last college stop, Arkansas, in 2015, and has assisted with special teams during his past five seasons in the NFL. Across all levels of football, he says one thing holds true when it comes to special-teams potency.
“The return game’s always going to come down to the returner,” Singleton said Thursday during his first news conference with local media. “That’s one of the common things there: If you’ve got a great returner, chances are your return game’s good. It’s not really unlike any other position group. If you’ve got a really good player, you find out different ways of how you highlight them.”
Every player who returned a punt or kick for Kentucky in 2020 is expected to be on next season’s roster. Wide receiver Josh Ali was the only player to return a punt last season, averaging 10.3 yards per return on six attempts. Zach Johnson had 11 of the Cats’ 16 kickoff returns, averaging 20.7 yards per return on 11 tries. Running back Travis Tisdale had three kickoff returns for an average of 14 yards while running back JuTahn McClain (26 yards) and Allen Dailey (2 yards) had one return each.
Kentucky as a team ranked 92nd in kickoff return average (18.62) and 28th in punt return average last season. Beefing up those numbers depends heavily on the play of the 10 other guys on the field with the return man, Singleton says, particularly because finding a star returner is difficult.
His own experiences should leave an impression on guys who might not take that part of the game as seriously as offense or defense.
“I think that’s the biggest point I want to make to guys on the team, is, in the NFL, if that’s the level you want to play at, you’re gonna play special teams,” Singleton said. “That’s part of it. When you look at the number of players that are activated on game day, you can pretty much account for, if you’re the No. 2 or the No. 3 on any position group, you’re gonna find your way on one of the teams.
“I’ve been that college guy that says, ‘Ah, I’m a starting running back, I shouldn’t have to do this return game,’ but it’s just changing that mindset and realizing, ‘This is another piece that makes me valuable,’ not only to my current team but potentially to who I may get to play for in the future. It starts with that.”
Punting
One of Kentucky’s most significant departures in the offseason is Max Duffy, the 2019 Ray Guy Award winner. Duffy averaged 45.1 yards per punt on 42 tries in 2020.
Colin Goodfellow, who played in place of Duffy during a couple of absences last season, averaged 47.7 yards on 10 punts with two touchbacks. Goodfellow, a walk-on, is a more traditional punter as opposed to Duffy, who deploys an Aussie-rules style kick. Kentucky as part of its 2021 scholarship class signed Wilson Berry, a former Australian-rules football professional like Duffy.
Duffy in the past has been dismissive of his chances to make it in the NFL, and the league’s rules make his style of kicking more difficult to achieve on a consistent basis. Singleton thinks Duffy might be able to cut it in the pro ranks, though.
“That part is entirely different and for some guys coming out of college, they have to make that adjustment,” Singleton said. “The end of the day, though, it’s can you kick the ball? What is the type of leg? Placement is so huge in the NFL. ... At the end of the day, how he hits that ball when he goes through the combine, how that’s gonna look this year, will really determine that. Whether he’s Aussie or not Aussie? There’s Aussie punters in the NFL. From what I’ve seen, he’s an athlete, and athletes make it as punters in the NFL.”
