Notre Dame Special Teams Attempt To Build On 2015 Success

This week we featured question and answer sessions with Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly on the 2016 offense and defense. Time constraints didn’t permit us to get as in-depth on special teams, but we did have an opportunity to converse about the upgrades from last year and building on them this season.

One would have never thought it while watching Notre Dame’s 44-28 Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State in which the Buckeyes’ special teams thoroughly dominated, but the 2015 Fighting Irish kicking game collectively had its best season during the six-year Kelly era.

Granted, the bar was relatively low during Kelly’s previous five campaigns. That’s part of why he noted last August that he had never placed more emphasis in the preseason on special teams during his 25 years as a head coach than he did in 2015.

The extra work reaped dividends in at least two hard-fought victories: A fake field goal that produced a touchdown in the 34-27 win at Virginia, and a blocked punt for a touchdown that helped spearhead an exciting conquest of USC.

Complementing those game-changing plays were the performances of the top trio who made their debuts last season:

• Kicker Justin Yoon earned Freshman All-America notice by converting 15 of 17 field goals, notably each of the last 12 (highlighted by one from 52 yards versus Navy). Over the final nine games, Yoon missed neither a field goal nor an extra point (50 of 52 overall).

• Fellow freshman CJ Sanders became the first Notre Dame player since Vontez Duff in 2002 to return both a kickoff and a punt for a score in the same season. No one else for the Irish had returned a punt for a score since Golden Tate in 2009 or a kickoff for a TD since 2011 by George Atkinson III.

• After redshirting as a 2014 freshman, punter Tyler Newsome’s 44.5-yard average helped Notre Dame join Idaho as the only two schools last season to have their kicker and punter rank among the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage and punting average.

His 44.5 yards per punt average was the fourth-highest in one season at Notre Dame, but more notable was the 21 punts he placed inside the 20-yard were the second-best figure at the school since 2005, surpassed by only Ben Turk’s 26 in 2010, Kelly’s first season. Newsome also had 18 punts of more than 50 yards. The previous three years the totals at Notre Dame were 12, nine and seven.

• Notre Dame scored a touchdown on special teams four different ways, the first time that occurred since 2002, head coach Tyrone Willingham’s debut season when the Irish began 8-0.

The hiring of special teams analyst Marty Biagi to the support staff this winter has Kelly aspiring to achieve even more on special teams in 2016. A punter and placekicker at Marshall from 2004-07, Biagi was the special teams coordinator at Southern University in 2014 when it ranked No. 1 in all of college football for special teams scoring with seven touchdowns.

“We’ve added some things that I think are going to be very helpful,” Kelly said of the special teams this summer. “There are going to be a couple of things unique to special teams that have afforded us the opportunity to maybe show some strengths that we haven’t shown in our punt game with our punter.

“I think we’re going to grow there. Adding Marty there, he has great expertise.”

To remain a College Football Playoff contender, Notre Dame will need to build on the success it achieved on special teams for the most part — and erase the special teams clinic Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes put on them in the Fiesta Bowl.

OSU had Sanders walled in by the 15-yard line on all five of his kickoff returns, with the possessions starting at the 17-, 13-, 13-, 12- and 10-yard lines. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes averaged 18.25 yards on four punt returns and 29.3 yards on three kickoff returns against Notre Dame to gain a substantial advantage all game in field position.

A couple of question marks arose this spring. One, a hip flexor injury to Sanders required surgery that generally needs about four months of recovery time. Kelly reported this June Sanders’ rehab was coming along ahead of schedule. If it inhibits him on returns, other potential options on kickoff returns could include sophomore classmates/running backs Josh Adams and Dexter Williams.

On punts, sure-handed freshman receiver Kevin Stepherson, senior wideout Torii Hunter Jr. — whose baseball background makes him effective at tracking punts — and sophomore walk-on slot Chris Finke all could vie for the role, if needed.

Second, junior quarterback Montgomery VanGorder replaced 2015 starting quarterback DeShone Kizer as the holder for Yoon. There was an adjustment to make this spring, but it’s a subtle change that can’t be dismissed as irrelevant.

Without fail, special teams play has a major bearing on several outcomes per year, especially in close one-score contests, which the Irish have about five or six per season, including six in 2015.

Expect it to be not much different in 2016.

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