Michigan Football: Quinn Nordin With a Leg Up ... Returners Emerging
Determining who will play special teams (and which) is a tough balance, especially when there are so many great candidates. Some starters will play, special teams coach Jay Harbaugh said Oct. 7, though they won’t be overburdened, and others will get a chance to kickstart their careers with great performances.
In short, a lot of the positions are wide open heading into the opener at Minnesota.
“You want to have the best 11 out there to do their jobs, depending on the phase it is,” Harbaugh said. “What’s really necessary, the starters have to latch on to a special teams role. For a guy like James Ross or Cam McGrone or Zach Charbonnet, Chris Evans, those guys that are bona fide starters on one side of the ball, they’re not going to be able to play on all four, and you’re not going to ask that of them.”
But they’re going to do something, he noted … gain expertise in one area and be counted on to dominate that particular phase.
“It’s really going to depend on what their role is in the rest of the game,” he said. “You really need your core backup players on offense or defense to really shine and play on three or four.
“At the end of the day, we’ll always go with the 11 guys we feel confident to win that rep in that situation. Throw it out there, let the guys compete.”
Some of the choices are obvious. Kick returner Giles Jackson, for example, averaged 25.9 yards per return last year and notched a 97-yard touchdown to open the game at Maryland. The sophomore is explosive, and the early returns indicate he’s gotten even faster.
Finding someone to complement him back there is the goal now, Harbaugh continued.
“There’s still a lot of time left. We’re blessed with depth at all those positions,” he said. “Kick return, obviously Giles is tremendous, but we really put an emphasis this offseason not only on Giles improving and getting better, but also having a great backup for him … a good, dynamic guy back there with him.
“Michael Barrett did a great job for us as an off returner. We just want to be a little deeper overall. If Giles is not going to be back there, who will replace him?”
Many of them are the same ones competing at punt return, he said. Junior Ronnie Bell is “probably the guy” there right now, Harbaugh said, noting he’s gotten a lot of reps over the past few years. But Jackson has been working there, as well, and several other candidates are in the running.
“[Freshman] Blake Corum is a natural punt catcher,” Harbaugh said. “[Frosh] Eamonn Dennis is dangerous with the ball in his hands. We like what he does. Mike Saniristil has a good amount of reps stacked from last year.
“It’s a good, deep group. I feel we can be a very good return team. We’re just excited to continue to find out who those guys are going to be with more live punts and guys tracking the ball, especially on some windy days like we’re going to see this fall.”
As always, he added, the most consistent guy will eventually win the job.
NORDIN TAKES THE LEAD IN THE KICKING COMPETITION
Fifth-year senior kicker Quinn Nordin, meanwhile, has the edge in placekicking duties after making his last 10 field goals a year ago. He made a pair against Ohio State and three more against Alabama, including a school record-tying 57-yarder.
“We love the way he finished last year,” Harbaugh said. “We love the way he’s been practicing. It’s a position where, just like all the other ones, you’re going to put the guy out there that gives you the best chance to win. More than likely, that history would say that would be Quinn.
“We’ve still got a lot of time in terms of kicking in competitive situations and moving the ball in practice, letting those guys both kick. We’ll play the guy we feel like is going to give us the better shot. We love everything about both of them. It’s a blessing to have two guys we feel confident with in terms of ability. We all love the fact that Quinn has done it on some big stages, has experience and poise of a veteran. Moody does, too. We’ll let the competition play out.”
They’ll continue to move the ball to different hashes and run two-minute drills, etc., to separate them, see what works best operation-wise. One guy will likely make in the mid-80s percentile while the other will be a percentage point or two below in practice — that’s how close it could be, Harbaugh said.
The same goes for the punters, he continued. Will Hart and Brad Robbins have both earned all-conference honors in their tenures.
“We’re blessed to have multiple guys with game reps, good players. They have poise, a lot of ability," he said. "It’s interesting. They are both different guys, kick a little different ball, have different strengths. They are competing like crazy, a lot of reps with full punt team or punt return team where everything is charted.
“It’s really tight right now, and we grade really strictly on criteria. How long does it take to get a punt off, where they are putting it location wise, what’s the hang, distance? I really can just say we’re thrilled with how both responded. They’re making it a hard decision, which is the same on the kicking front.”
Finally, the Wolverines will be looking for a new long snapper after fifth-year senior Cam Cheeseman opted out.
"We have two good guys with [freshman Greg] Tarr and [redshirt freshman William] Wagner. Aidan Hutchinson is a good long snapper,” Harbaugh said.
“We feel good about the competition and continue to let that play out and see who is going to be the guy going into the game. We still have a good amount of close to full speed work where we’ll be able to evaluate those guys.”
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