It’s evident again this season that Houston Nutt and staff are struggling to name a punt returner. The serious candidates right now appear to be Peyton Hillis, Damian Williams, Felix Jones and Cedric Washington. Every year this seems to be a gut-wrenching decision for the Head Hog, riddled with indecision and reluctance. Why? Simple…risk vs. reward.
A fumbled punt or letting the ball hit and roll can obviously be a huge downer. A game changing play that can put your defense back on the field, or put your offense in a hole. On the other hand, a big return can turn field position, be a momentum changer and can actually be…wait for it…a scoring play (although that’s not been seen around these parts in a while).
So are we going to play scared and safe? Or are we going to roll the dice? After watching Damian Williams take it 50 yards to the house on a simple reverse during Saturday night’s scrimmage, I know how I would vote. Let’s roll the dice and have some fun!
Our defense appears solid enough this year to “recover” if a negative play occurs out of the punt return game. That has certainly not been the case over the past few years. And if the coaches are worried about putting a true freshman back there, put somebody back there with him. That guy can step up and block the first man, giving the main return guy a little more confidence and maybe a better chance to bust one.
We have seen the “safe and scared” approach for the last few years. I say let’s try a little “shake and bake” for a change.
I agree we need to be more agressive in our return strategies. I also agree we have been conservative to a fault. I would consider Peyton Hillis a conservative choice and he fumbled 1 or 2 punts last year himself.
The negitive side of me disagrees on some of the reasons. Since we always seem to have a hard time finding a "reward" type return person under HDN, I suspect we don't know how to coach someone like that into being able to catch and hold onto the football.
I'll await 10khog to tell me to be quite.
I'm in on a little "shake and bake"
DW would be my choice
Hey jjfmetal…we love your YouTube videos here at RBN! Thanks and keep up the good work!
Tipster
thank u! Tipster
U are doing a great job with the site, love it
Isn't it amazing how Houston Dale sometimes talks as if the only person on the team that can catch a punt is Peyton Hillis?
I vote Damian Williams for the job. Maybe not for USC, but let's get him broken in and on the job quickly.
I saw Damien tonight. I'll tell you what. Regardless of whether the kid ever scores a touchdown or even gains a yard (of which I think he will get plenty of both) the kid is a class act. Although I think London is a little flashier on the field than Damien and maybe a little cockier… he's a great kid as well. Both are well spoken and always have a smile on their face. You can tell they're really enjoying where they're at right now. I really hope they're the leaders of putting Arkansas football back on the map. I'm very happy both of them are Razorbacks.
On another note, I like the theme of this fall's camp. I think we're already seeing the benefits of Nutt being the CEO and having more time to arrange things like this. He's had several former players in to talk about teamwork and family and sticking together. I think he is a master motivator and his position only gives him more time to strategize and think of ways to motivate these kids. I like our setup of this football team and staff. Time will tell if this team can reap the benefits on the football field. I'm ready!
If you worry about screwing up, guess what? You'll probably screw up. Doesn't matter if it's muffing a punt, yanking a putt, or missing a one pin spare. If you worry about these things then you've increased the chance they'll happen. I remember in hs, our returner fumbled a punt – nobody around him. Luckily there was a penalty. The coach left him in and told him to take it to the house because the cover team wouldn't stay in their lanes. He took it to the house.
I have a dumb question.
Is it that much harder to catch a punt than it is to catch a kick-off? I'm in total agreement with Sunshine on shaking it up. Personally I think PH is not a good choice and shouldn't even be considered for the punt return job. Enough with the conservative. Let's run HOG WILD for a while!!!
My question however is this, since FJ was an All-American kick-off returner last year as a freshman, doesn't he have a "good-enough" set of hands to handle a punt? I personally never tried catching a punt with SEC players running at me, so I'm at a loss. Surely there are some that FJ is a pretty good candidate for the job.
Please enlighten me on this.
yes, keep in mind 9 out of 10 times as soon as u catch the ball u have someone 3-4 steps in front of u ready to take off your head, alot more pressure.
HJHog – I am definitely not an aerodynamics professor by any means (insert, “scientific rocket” joke here), but it is much tougher to catch a spiraling punt than an end-over-end kickoff. Some coaches prefer RBs back there because they are used to finding the hole, taking a hit, protecting the ball, etc. But when you think about some of the recent great punt return guys in college football (Desmond Howard, Rocket Ismail, Deion Sanders, etc.) they are not RBs.
I heard Jeff Fischer, Tennessee Titans head coach, speak one time and he used a great analogy when teaching a player how to return a punt or kickoff. He asked the player “Do you know what a toll station looks like on a highway?” The player said he did. “Ok, then catch the ball first, run as fast as you can through the toll booth that has no cars. Once you’re through the toll booth, they’ll be one police man there (kicker) that you’ll have to out run to the county line. Go get it.” Perfect.
It's Peyton's job period. No matter what happens. Last season Coe was leading the SEC in return average and after he muffed 2 vs. Vandy, ( both of which the Razorbacks retained posession ) he wasn't allowed back. Peyton muffed a number of returns that resulted in a change of posession (and the GA loss), but was allowed to keep the job. If nothing else, the kids who aren't hometown kids learn that life isn't always fair, and everyone isn't on the same playing field. We all have to learn that sometime. HDN is making sure that while he can't teach a QB to mature in his system, he'll at least teach kids that … life was never said to be fair.
I believe it is an simple as this: Would you rather have Mike Alstott back there returning your punts or a RB/WR/CB…. Fullbacks DO NOT return punts, I don't care if they have hands like glue. The idea of that is on the same level as saying the Big 12 is a better conference than SEC (which seems to be the annual consensus of BCS "experts"). If any reasonable coach had the oppertunity to field either an ALL AMERICAN kick returner, a True Fresh who has shown he can OUT RUN the entire team, or a Fullback at punt man; I think the FB would be the furthest from his mind. However it is obvious we are not dealing with a reasonable head coach, which means come Sept. 2, we're not picking up to many return yards…..
BelAirHawg – I agree with you. I think PH should be WAY down on the list.
Sunshine… are those really RECENT return men… come on now, we are in the otts now… not the 90's….
I agree with BelAirBoy on most all aspects of his post….however, the Big XII conference has been well represented in recent years. I agree that the SEC is the better conference front to back, but the midwest boys are quite top heavy (see 06 national championship game). I guess us hog fans have to ride our conference's good name in dire times, but I don't believe we have any right to bad mouth the Big XII. Even if the bashing is directed at specific persons…
I disagree with most of you guys but I do tend to the conservative. All I have ever heard from coaches regarding punt returns is that, number 1, catching a punt is the hardest thing to do on the football field. It is almost a gift that can hardly be taught. And number 2, most of the things that happen on a punt return tend to be bad. A caught punt with no yardage is a good thing. Nothing turns a game like a muffed punt in the eyes of coach even more so than a int or a fumbled kickoff which happens seldom. Statistics actually show, I am told, that more runbacks on punts are called back for penaties than actually stand for touchdowns. With a great return guy you can expect at best 2 touchdowns and 3-4 other big runs in the course of the year. But with bad punt catching, you can expect to lose maybe even 1-2 punt drops per game. I'll take the postive percentages anyday. Maybe we have a great defense to overcome some of that. Maybe our offense will be good enough to overcome some of that. But I would not put them in that hole yet. I would be that Felix Jones, or DW, or someone else will take that job before the season is over but until then we will be underdogs in the big games and getting +10 yds of field postition on punts is good in my book untill be show we are good in the other areas. Most coaches do the same. THey just do not have a Peyton Hillis at fullback or anyone like him.
Peyton Hillis muffed more punts than anyone last year. Whether it was a muffed punt or a fumble, he apparently didn't live by the same rules as everyone else and get yanked from the game for a while.
I agree we need to catch punts. Peyton concerns me as much as anyone out there in getting this done.