New special teams coordinator J.B. Brown joined host Jon Jansen on this week's episode of the 'In the Trenches' podcast. Brown, who was officially promoted to the role on Feb. 2, takes over one of the most tedious, yet important units on a football team.
When Jay Harbaugh left and followed his father to Los Angeles, Brown was chosen as the replacement. As Jansen astutely pointed out during the episode, coaching special teams is different from any other unit in the sense that every player on the roster needs to be evaluated to see if they can fill a certain spot.
But two of the most discussed special teams positions on any football team are punt returner and kicker, and Brown broke down both with Jansen on Wednesday's episode.
True sophomore Semaj Morgan, who just recently announced that he will be switching his jersey number from 82 to 0, was the first name brought up at punt returner.
"Next step for him is just consistency, right?" Brown said. "We saw the flash that can happen, good and bad, but also the consistency of when he learns how to catch consistently, he's gonna be one of the best in the league, I think. He's gonna have a real shot."
"So for him, it's just catching, seeing the ball, getting different situations, and us doing a better job as coaches of putting him in those situations before we get to the game."
Morgan made a name for himself last season as a true freshman by making flashy plays in big moments, including an 87-yard punt return in the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa.
But, as is typical with freshmen, mistakes tend to happen more frequently, and when Morgan was looking to make a big-time play in an even bigger moment, he coughed up the punt, and Alabama recovered early in the first quarter of the Rose Bowl.
When asked which other players are in the mix at punt returner, Brown listed two other wide receivers and a defensive player.
"Definitely Tyler Morris is the guy that's done it for us, who can also do it for us," Brown said. "We're gonna try to build up to create seven different guys. You know, Fred Mo, he's gonna be able to do it. Fredrick Moore, Brandyn Hillman, all those types of guys that have the skill set in the past in their high school tape, we're gonna try to work out this summer to make sure that they could do it."
Interestingly, Brown did not mention Will Johnson (there had been speculation that the star cornerback might give punt returner a go). But, with still three more players needed to hit Brown's magic number of seven, a few more names might pop up.
As for kicker, Michigan loses James Turner but adds Dominic Zvada from Arkansas State and returns Adam Samaha, who is entering his sophomore season.
"Right now, we got four kickers in right now. We have Dominic Zvada, we have Adam Samaha, we have Charlie Mentzer and we have (Stuart Blake) here on campus right now, and they're all gonna be competing for that number one spot."
"Going through and then seeing who's the most consistent at putting it through the pipes — that's really what we're looking for. Obviously, technique will continue to play a huge role. We're excited about all four of them. We think all four of them could do a lot of good things for us here in the Maize and Blue, but at the end of the day, who's most consistent coming out of camp will be the guy."
---
Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards
Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer
Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @Jerry_Diorio
Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify
Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube
Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
