University of North Carolina Athletics
Davis Stresses Special Emphasis
August 7, 2008 | Football
Aug. 7, 2008
By Lauren Brownlow
Many college players begin their careers on special teams. Some get lucky - sophomore special-teamer and safety Jonathan Smith got his first collegiate tackle in his first game on the opening kickoff at East Carolina. Sophomore linebacker Bruce Carter blocked a punt in his first game against James Madison. Junior linebacker Ryan Taylor was not so fortunate, as he was hit hard against Rutgers on his first special teams snap and was knocked out cold by current Carolina Panther linebacker Jon Beason at Miami later that year.
Taylor, going on his third year as a standout special-teamer, knows how fortunate Carolina will be to have a unit let by more experienced and stronger players. "I think the weight and strength, but also, you learn more of the techniques. You learn what they're trying to do to you because it's hard to get a good look in practice. It's hard to know how fast everything is because the other teams are putting their best players on special teams. It's hard to know what they're going to do."
With an influx of talented freshmen and a core group of special teamers like Smith, Carter and Taylor, the starters on offense and defense will get more chances to rest while that core group, along with others from last season, leads a new group of talented freshmen. The sophomores, like safety and special teamer Matt Merletti, remember how fast things went in the beginning. "When the ball is in the air, you're thinking of your next assignment. You're getting where you need to be. You're running immediately. We usually have key guys that we pick out during the week on the other team because usually one or two guys will tell what kind of return it is. So then we'll key that guy and we'll see what he does. We'll be yelling it out to each other what return it is and then we all have certain assignments," Merletti said.
Some players might feel that a special teams assignment is a demotion. But when the head coach is constantly stressing the importance of that job, Carolina players are slowly appreciating it more. "A lot of people don't understand how important special teams is to a football game," Smith said, repeating Davis' mantra that you have to win two of the three phases in order to win any football game. "You've got to have athletes to put on the field that can go out and make big plays. Special teams plays a big part in it."
Ryan Taylor is a big part of the reason that his teammates are embracing the role. As an upperclassman, Taylor knows how important his role will be in every facet of special teams. "I think the communication aspect is one of the biggest keys in special teams because there's so much going on and there's so much other teams can do that you really have to talk, have to tell everybody where their man is if you see it," Taylor said. "When you're punting the ball, it's so key because if you get a ball blocked, it's a death sentence for the team. So you really have to communicate because there is no way that we can get a punt blocked this year because it will kill us in that game."
Six losses by 24 points last season - it's a memory that has made each player more aware of the importance of every play. Some might point to a missed opportunity on offense or a missed tackle on defense, both of which certainly have played roles in Carolina's wins and losses last season. But Carolina's special teams have and can still be game-changing. Carolina was 4-4 in games in which it had averaged over 40.0 net yards per kickoff, and the four losses were by just 14 points combined. Carolina was 0-4 in games that it averaged less than 40 yards per kickoff, and it lost those four games by a combined 64 points.
"The chance of having a big play on special teams is every play. That's different than the rest of the guys on the team. The rest of the guys on the team are, `Hey, we've got to go out there. We've got to play one play at a time.' The number of 40-plus (yardage) plays on offense and defense, I don't think you could count more than two or three ... where every play on special teams is covering at least that. We make sure that the coverage units and the guys that are trying to return a kick, whether it's punt return or kickoff return, they understand that we want to try to get something like that going to create a big play," special teams coordinator John Lovett said.
Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.
