The Special Teams

Stephan J. Carrera

Anyone who followed NU football last year knows that the special teams basically sucked. Luckily, we are looking substantially better this year.
Punting: Stefan Demos had punting duties last year and was absolutely dreadful. He averaged a pitiful 35.0 yrds/punt, worst amongst qualifying punters. Much of the problem was that Demos was responsible for everything: punting, place kicking, and kickoff starting. Fortunately, Demos no longer has punting duties. The redshirt freshman Brandon Williams instead gets the job. He averaged 41.9 yrds/punt in high school. We'll see how that carries over.
Kicking: Demos had this job, as well, and did much better in this position. He had a very good year, with the exception of the Outback Bowl and the game against Illinois, making a pretty solid 72% of his kicks. He will be returning as kicker this year and is being named a Lou Groza Award candidate by some.
Kickoff Starting: Demos had this job as well, and I had no problem with his performance. He will hold the starting position again this year.
Long Snapper: This job will go to last year's starter, senior John Henry Pace, or redshirt freshman Pat hickey.
Holder: The holder on placekicks will be punter Brandon Williams.
Punt Return: Northwestern was pretty lousy on punt returns last year. Andrew Brewer and Brendan Smith usually got the job. Neither was very good, and I was often happy if they just managed to catch the ball. They averaged 6.3 yards per return, 93rd in the country. This year, the job will go to either Hunter Bates or true freshman Venric Mark. My vote is for Mark. The guy is a tiny (5'8) speedster (4.4 40-meter dash!) who seems proficient at making guys miss. From what I have seen of him, he looks a bit like a poor man's Percy Harvin. That is never a bad comparison, in less you are referring to injury resistance. It will no doubt be a pretty big adjustment to return punts in the Big 10, but I'm still excited. I have never seen anyone run like that in the purple and white.
Kick Return: We were pretty awful at this, too. Again, I often had no idea if our guys would even manage to catch the ball. Stephen Simmons got the most returns, and averaged an admittedly good 25.3 yards per return (39th best in the country). Everyone else failed in the role though. As a team, we averaged 20.6 yards per return (62nd). Simmons, thankfully is listed as the starter for this year, with Scott Concannon behind him. Both these people should be pretty good, but I would like to see Mark get an opportunity, as well.