Brooks: Time For Special Teams To Become Special

BOULDER - Sparkling special teams play didn't show up in many of Colorado's nine losses in 2009. In fact, Kent Riddle can tell you what happened on CU's special teams had a large hand (even a larger foot) in most of those defeats.

Riddle should know; he heads up that area for the Buffaloes. And while he hasn't calculated how many points per game his unit might have cost CU in 2009, there's really no need to get that specific. The devastation was obvious.

Riddle can run through the losses and vividly recall numerous missed field goals, low trajectory punts that resulted in run backs, the occasional bobbled punt, a blown block or three on punt/kickoff returns . . .

You get the unsightly picture. All the ingredients were there for a special teams horror flick.

"If you've got a great team with a big margin for error, maybe you can survive some of those things," Riddle said. "But we didn't - and they were all very focused things that were the problem. It wasn't like, 'Oh my God, we don't know what we're doing.'

"A guy takes off and releases (instead of blocking) and we get a punt blocked. We drop a punt against Kansas State. We hit line drive punts against Nebraska and Oklahoma State, right to the returner. We miss field goals against Missouri, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Texas . . ."

With that batch of faux pas in mind, the Buffs entered fall camp with special teams very much in their thoughts. Riddle agreed that the spring/preseason emphasis put in his area can't be overstated.

"No, absolutely not," he said. "We know we have to perform. We can't afford to lose games because of what happens on special teams, and we need to start winning some games because of what happens on special teams.

"We have veterans in place to make things happen; we have some game-breakers now in the return game. Now, if we kick the ball well, there's no reason to think we shouldn't be good on special teams."

Ah, but kicking the ball has been calamitous for CU over the past two seasons. The Buffs were last in the Big 12 Conference both departments in 2009. Incumbent placement specialist Aric Goodman was 10-of-18 in field goals in 2009 and 5-of-14 in 2008, making him 15-of-32 over the last two seasons.

He recognizes his inconsistency, but neither has he been the beneficiary of a consistently productive offense. And, he's had an unhealthy relationship with the uprights: seven of his 17 field goal misses have plinked off of a post.

Usually a solid practice kicker, Goodman was the odds-on favorite to emerge from fall camp 2010 with the placement job. But more competition - freshmen Justin Castor and Dillan Freiberg, junior Marcus Kirkwood - was present in this camp, and Riddle wasn't about to hand Goodman the job.

"To some degree, now that we have options, guys aren't going to be able to win it by default," Riddle said. "I'm not saying a guy can't miss one kick and he's going to get the hook, but a guy is not going to have a bad game and continue to go. Everything is evaluated.

"I'm not afraid to say this: Aric has done a great job in camp. He's done a good job in practice before. I think he's kicking the ball better this year . . . two years ago he kicked the ball good in camp and I think he's even ahead of that even. Last year in camp he wasn't quite as good but the guys we had trying to compete with him weren't very good either.

"But I'd be foolish not to recognize the difficulties he's had in games. If he is the guy, it would be foolish not to recognize that he's having a bad day, a bad week, whatever - and we do have some other options now."

You can read that only one way: Goodman must perform better and more consistently this season or Riddle turns to his "other options." And quickly, the way it sounds.

Continued Riddle: "It's that fine line of giving a guy a chance to prove I've overcome some things and I've fixed some things in my approach - and I'm not talking about my approach to the ball. I'm talking my approach to the game.

"And recognizing (Goodman's) history, we can't repeat that history. We can't ignore it. It's not just the misses and the points (lost) - it's momentum, it's attitude . . . there's a million things. To Aric's credit, some guys would have said, 'I'm good enough to be the kickoff guy; I don't need that harassment, that other crap,' and call it good. But he keeps fighting back and says, 'I can do it.'"

To be sure, Goodman has never fought harder. After he underwent hip surgery in April, he said doctors told him he "probably wouldn't be able to play this year, or if I was healthy enough, that I wouldn't have the ability to be kicking on the D-I level."

He knows that many frustrated Buffs followers believed that to be the case anyway and that to some, his spring hip operation "was a blessing in disguise - me having the surgery and maybe not being able to be back," he said.

"But I've worked my tail off, and hopefully this year it'll pay off for me. I've been doing everything I possibly could to prove them wrong."

If Goodman falters, Castor likely would get the first look as his replacement. He and Kirkwood have had their moments in camp, but also have been scatter kickers. Freiberg's accuracy has been good inside 40 yards, but he's been asked to concentrate on being punter Zach Grossnickle's backup.

Grossnickle's camp has been spent mainly ironing out his mechanics and trying to improve his consistency. For the most part, he said he's done both: "I think it's been good, but with a few little slumps here and there. When I make good contact, it definitely goes . . . I just need to make sure I get rid of the little 'do-fers' that happen once in a while."

He also can placekick, but Riddle wants him concentrating on punting - and Grossnickle believes that has helped him: "I don't have to worry about a random insert field goal (during practices). I can just go over to the turf, practice my punting with Dillan (Freiberg) and work out any little kinks I think I have."

Riddle doesn't expect perfection from Grossnickle, but he does expect more good punts than bad.

"I'm sure at some point he's going to have a bad punt and the other 10 guys out there are going to have to rally around him and make a play when we need to make a play," Riddle said. "But he needs to help those 10 guys out the other 99 percent of the time and give them a chance.

"That's where we were hurt so much last year. We were not getting great hang time and the other 10 guys were having to make every play. Hanging it up there and getting a fair catch makes everything easier on everybody (in coverage)."

CU used one player (Justin Drescher) last season for both punt and placement snaps. This season, Joe Silipo (short) and Ryan Iverson (long) will be utilized. Silipo is a converted defensive tackle, Iverson a freshman who snapped to Freiberg for four years in high school in California (Newport Beach).

When Iverson arrived at CU, he had to alter which side he aimed at when snapping to Grossnickle. Freiberg punts with his left foot, Grossnickle with his right. So Iverson had to redirect his passes about a foot to the right, putting the ball over Grossnickle's right leg.

"It was hard for me to switch over . . . it took a couple of weeks to do. But I feel comfortable with it now," said Iverson, who came to Riddle's attention through snapping guru Chris Rubio's national long-snapping camps. Iverson said Oregon State and several other Division-II schools also showed interest in him as a walk-on but CU was the most attractive for early playing time.

Silipo most likely will be snapping to backup quarterback Cody Hawkins on field goals and extra points. Receiver Scotty McKnight, last season's holder, also can be used.

Goodman kicks off well and "does a good job of getting the ball up in air . . . even his shorter kicks have hang time," Riddle said.

Both return games should be more explosive with the additions of Travon Patterson and Toney Clemons (punts) and the return of Brian Lockridge and Arthur Jaffee (kickoffs). Patterson and Clemons also can be used in KOR.

Patterson, said Riddle, offers "speed and playmaking ability . . . he can make guys miss and then run away from them when he does it."

And Jaffee, Riddle noted, "is one of the faster guys on the team . . . he can run with all those other guys." Jaffee also is a ferocious blocker, which Riddle said becomes even more important because of a new NCAA rule dictating that no more than two blockers can form a "wedge" on kickoff return teams. Three-man wedges were common in seasons past.

Riddle's recipe for special teams improvement is simple: "For some guys it's catch the ball, for some guys it's punt the ball as high as you can, for some guys it's make field goals . . . I think everybody on our team can tell you he knows what he needs to do to make us successful."

Doing it, though, is always the hard part.

THE INSIDE LOOK AT . . .

Special teams

Coach: Kent Riddle, fifth year at CU.

Returning starters: PK/KO Aric Goodman, Sr.; KOR Brian Lockridge, Jr.; KOR Arthur Jaffee, Jr.; PR Jason Espinoza, H Scotty McKnight, Sr.

Returnees: SS Joe Silipo, Sr.; H Cody Hawkins, Sr.; PK/KO Marcus Kirkwood, Jr.; KOR Jalil Brown, Sr.

Newcomers: PK Justin Castor, Fr.; PR Toney Clemons, Jr.; P/PK Dillan Freiberg, Fr.; P Zach Grossnickle, Fr-RS; LS Ryan Iverson, Fr.; PR/KOR Travon Patterson, Sr.

Key losses: KOR Darrell Scott (transferred), P Matt DiLallo, LS Justin Drescher, LS Austin Bisnow.

Stat line: Not much special about the Buffs' special teams in 2009 . . . they were last in the Big 12 Conference in punting (31.9 net), last in field goals (10-of-18) and last in punt returns (3.3 yard average). CU was better in kickoff returns and kickoff coverage, ranking fifth in each category (23.9 yards KOR).

Bottom line: Simple . . . if they aren't better in the three special teams phases in which they finished last in the league last season, the Buffs aren't likely to improve much in the W-L department. CU's margin for error was slim in most areas in 2009. If the offense is more potent in 2010, the placekicking and punting games might not be under the microscope as often. Still, improvement must be made in both areas if the Buffs are to reach their 2010 goals.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU