Chris Partridge Talks Daxton Hill's Instincts & Speed, Role Going Forward
Special teams have been an area of strength this season under Michigan Wolverines football safeties/special teams coach Chris Partridge, with the Maize and Blue fielding sound units in the kicking, punting, coverage and return phases.
Freshman safety/nickel Daxton Hill stirred up plenty of discussion following Saturday’s 52-0 annihilation of Rutgers, thanks to the massive blow he delivered on Scarlet Knight sophomore cornerback Avery Young just as the youngster was fielding a punt in the second quarter.
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Hill not only showed off fundamentally sound tackling skills on the play, but also blazing speed to close in on Young as fast as he did.
“It’s about time,” Partridge laughed this afternoon when asked what his impressions of Hill’s hit were. “He did a great job and made a great play.
“Daxton got down there the week before and was a little tentative, but now it’s an expectation for him. He’s our fastest guy on kickoffs and punts, and maybe the fastest guy on the team.
“You can’t just be running that fast all the time though because guys can sidestep you, so you have to understand when you can and can’t take shots like that.
“That’s all being coached and he’s being put in those positions in practice. Daxton was in great position to take a shot like that and he did — it was great to see, because he’ll be able to do it again when he sees it next time.
“Great football players don’t make the same mistakes twice, and they learn from whatever was wrong and fix it right away.
“Daxton was able to do that, which was huge. It’s our job as coaches and players’ jobs to adapt to anything that happens and get it fixed.”
The freshman saw a career-high 29 defensive snaps in a nickelback role on Saturday against the Scarlet Knights, and has also been spotted at safety at times this season.
Partridge was asked to differentiate between the two positions in Michigan’s scheme, and explain whether or not there is actually much of a difference at all.
“It’s two different skill sets, but it’s [the nickel] our safety skill set,” he explained. “It’s a bigger, more physical cover guy.
“[Junior safety] Brad Hawkins played the nickel in our first few games, and [senior safety] Josh Metellus can also do that.
“We term it ‘the nickel,’ but it’s just a bigger, more physical cover guy.”
Hill isn’t the only freshman who has made a significant impact on U-M’s special teams so far this season, with wideout Giles Jackson taking over as the club’s primary kick returner.
Jackson has handled all seven of Michigan’s kick return attempts this year, averaging 22.7 yards and occasionally showing off an impressive burst in the process.
“He’s explosive and is a natural in terms of his abilities to get to the ball,” Partridge observed. “He really gives us a weapon back there which we feel like we’ll be able to take advantage of throughout the season.
“[Running backs coach] Jay [Harbaugh] and I get together and talk, and it led to Giles taking a lot of reps in the fall to be able to do what he’s doing.
“You just want to make sure he can handle catching the ball and securing it first, and then you hope the explosiveness takes over from there.
“Giles showed he could handle it, which is why we went with him.”
Notes
• Sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell has primarily handled punts this season with junior receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones sidelined for the first two games and still returning to full health, though the latter was placed alongside the former in a two-man return look on Saturday against the Scarlet Knights.
“No, it wasn’t," Partridge revealed today, when asked if a two-return look had originally been the plan while Peoples-Jones was still out. "Donovan was our returning starter, so we went with Ronnie once he [Peoples-Jones] got hurt.
"We were playing these spread rugby guys who spread the ball all over the field, so that’s why we wanted to put two returners back there. We went with the two-return look and it worked out really well.
"Donovan is dynamic and elite back there — he puts fear into the opponent’s punt team. It allows us to do a lot more back there on our returns and on our punt blocks.”
• While offensive and defensive philosophies and schemes are discussed ad nauseam nowadays, the same can't be said for special teams. Partridge, however, was asked a simple, yet interesting question this afternoon regarding that notion — where does he get his special teams ideas from?
“We like to stay cutting edge on special teams and not be traditional," he explained. "We take all the top plays in special teams in college football and in the NFL, and cut them up. I sit there and watch it on Mondays to see if we can draw anything from them.
"Self-scouting is big for us too, and checking how many times we’ve done certain things. We adapt and change, based on how we think we’re going to be attacked. We change up what we can, while staying with the foundations of our scheme.”
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