Special teams coach hopes for better snapping, punts

By Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor

Special teams coach Scott Downing says the top special teams emphases this spring are punt protection and snapping.

"If we went into a game now, obviously Tim Stratton would be the long snapper in handling punts," said Downing. "Short snapper would be John Shelbourne, who handled the ball all last year and did a fine job with that."

However, Downing said the team is still developing depth at the snapper positions.

"We've had some guys come along; Doug Swann — we've been using him quite a bit as a long snapper as well as Mark Reid," said Downing. "So we've got four guys. We know there are a couple of guys in this entering freshmen class again that long snapped, so that's going to be good for us too."

Downing said another area the team will be working on this spring is extra points.

"Just to make sure our protection is solid," said Downing. "The advantage on our (extra point) and our punt team is that a lot of guys return. So we're working with a lot of veteran players."

In terms of placekicking, Downing said there are several candidates.

"You've got obviously Travis (Dorsch), who is set to become one of the leading kickers in school history," he said. "You've got Quinton Owens, who is a redshirt freshman who is highly accurate. He lacks a little bit in leg strength, but at least he's accurate with the football. I think we've got some competition going there."

Dorsch hit 12 of 17 field goal attempts last fall and 45 of 47 extra points. For his career, he has made 131 of 136 extra points and 46 of 70 field goals.

"(This season) the kick is not where it needs to be yet but it's getting there," said Dorsch. "During the offseason I focused probably 95 percent of my time on punting. The kicking game will come around with more reps throughout the spring and summer."

Last season, Ben Smith was the holder for kicks. Dorsch said Smith is great.

"Obviously there's little things that all of us can do to improve and he's no different," he said. "All around he's right up there with Danny Rogers, who I had my first two years here. Great hands and good hand-eye coordination. Gets the ball in the same spot pretty much every time. There's no complaints about Ben; he does a great job."

Downing said, "Holding, Ben Smith continues to do well and we've developed a couple of other guys behind him. Scott Kurz, our punter, has proved to be a more-than-adequate backup. And then Aaron Levin has come in lately to be our third holder, which is a luxury. You rarely have three guys that can hold the ball and you feel like you can get through the game with them."

Dorsch said special teams play is significant.

"You look at special teams, the majority of the time they will score 35 to 40 percent of your points, whereas you're only in on 5 percent of the plays during the game," he said. "Any time you're out there it's an explosive play, whether it be a punt return, a kickoff or a field goal. You're out there either to score points or gain field position. That's something that goes overlooked a lot of the time but it's very important for the game."

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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