2016 Special Teams Preview: Hoosiers Set at Kicker and Punt Return, But That's About It.

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

A game can be won or lost on special teams. It is a unit that only gets attention if there is a complete meltdown or a return unit brings one back to the end zone. This season the Hoosiers have a couple sure things and a handful of question marks in the third phase of the game. Consistency in all parts of the kicking and return game will go a long way to stabilizing the Hoosiers performance and could ultimately lead to a couple more wins in 2016. 

The Sure Things

Griffin Oakes, Kicker

It was a banner year for Griffin Oakes in 2015 as he took home the award for the best kicker in the Big Ten, but the season ended with a bitter taste in his, and the team’s mouth. He finished 2015 24-of-29 on field goal attempts with a long of 51 yards and 53-of-57 on extra points, while excelling on kickoffs hitting 52-of-91 for touchbacks.

Oakes is only a junior this season and has a chance to win back-to-back Big Ten Kicker of the Year awards and even make a run at being an All-American. There are a couple of areas in which Oakes can improve. First, he needs to clean up his extra points. Four missed PATs are too many. Secondly, he needs to become mentally tougher, many of his misses came in bunches, he is an emotional player and needs to be able to shake off a miss and move onto the next. If he does both of those things and continues to bomb kickoffs to the back of the end zone, the Hoosiers will have another All-American to hang a banner for outside of the stadium.

Mitchell Paige, Punter Returner

Paige was outstanding returning punts last year earning an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention for his performance. He returned two punts for touchdowns last year, including an electrifying one that got the Hoosiers back into the game against Michigan. Paige has terrific hands and makes the smart play. He knows when a fair catch is all that is needed, yet has the elusiveness and explosiveness to be a game breaker. He did fumble a punt return in the bowl game against Duke, but more times than not he has been reliable.

On Solid Footing

Kick Coverage

Outside of a few kick returns, most noticeably the touchdown return surrendered in the bowl game, the Hoosiers were great on kick off coverage. A lot of that has to do with a terrific kicker, but when opponents took the ball out of the end zone IU now has the athletes and talent to track down returners.

Another underrated trait of this group is their ability to recover and execute onside kicks. They can steal a possession if the return team shows them something they like. 

Punt Coverage

Outside of the game against Ohio State when Indiana just couldn’t kick the ball away from Jalin Marshall, the punt coverage unit was solid. They limited return opportunities and rarely let up a big play. The lone touchdown came on a blocked punt against Southern Illinois. If there is one aspect that they could clean up, it is their blocking for whoever wins the punting job this year. 

Looking For Answers

Punter

Indiana loses Erich Toth this year after he averaged 40.7 yards per punt and was very solid outside of a few punts. So replacing him may not be an easy task. Earlier in fall camp it looked like Joseph Gedeon was a shoe in to win the job, some sites went as far as saying he should be fans’ new favorite player. While he is a great follow on Twitter and a terrific athlete who can run about as well as anyone on the team, Gedeon just has not been automatic in fall camp and has left the door open for walk-on freshman Drew Conrad to throw his name into the mix. Both have been inconsistent kicking the ball for distance with quality hang time. 

Whoever wins the job, Gedeon has still been working with the first team, has a big job. While IU has an explosive offense, they do punt quite a bit and setting up the defense with field position is extremely important to their success. If IU can get around 40 yards a punt and limit returns and mistakes, it will make the field position battle that much easier to win.

Kick Return

Speaking of winning the field position battle, Indiana received little-to-no help from the kick return unit in 2015 as they averaged just 19.75 yards a return and rarely made it past their own forty-yard line. Kevin Wilson, is not too concerned about this however, citing that there are only so many chances to actually return a kick.

To me the biggest issue with the Hoosiers’ struggles in this phase of the game is that it makes things that much more difficult on the offense, an offense that is breaking in a new quarterback. Getting a touchdown or even getting the ball consistently out past the 35-yard line will greatly help the offense. However, Wilson is right the number of returns is limited and usually the offense will start at the 25 most of the time.

Indiana will be trying out some new kick returner to help spark the return game. On the most current depth chart running backs Devonte Williams and Mike Majette are penciled in as the first team kick returners. Both players have the size to break tackles and the speed to run by defenders. Don’t be surprised if IU uses freshman Cole Gest back there. Camion Patrick is also a dynamic kick return, but it is really unlikely that the staff will risk another injury by putting him back there.