re: Kevin Steele new DC

quote:

---

The ST coach has next to zero impact on kicking and punting. His work is in the coverage and return schemes. Under Fountain, those have been bad. There was a sharp downturn when Boulware left and it isn't hard to see that.

---

We punted 55 times in 2015, and had 7 returns for 87 yards. The UGa return for a TD accounted for 53 of those, and LSU got 23 on another, so of the other 53 punts our opponents averaged roughly .20 return yards (roughly 2 1/2 inches) per punt.

Of the 18 kickoffs we had returned, our opponents averaged 21.44 yards. Longest was 39 yards vs TAMU; only three others were more than 25, which meant our opponents' starting field position following kickoffs was almost always at the 25 or closer thanks to Carlson's 70% touchback ratio.

Meanwhile, AU was #4 in the nation in kickoff return average (28 yards per return) and managed to return just over half of our opponents 67 kickoffs. We weren't quite as productive returning punts, but were still pretty good, averaging 11.5 yards per return (#29 in FBS, #6 in SEC), but that was on only 15 returns (then again, thanks to our defense, we forced only 46 punts all year, dead last in the SEC and tied for #120 in FBS).

We didn't block any punts, FGs or PATs this season, but the blocked FG vs Memphis in the bowl was the only kick of any kind our opponents blocked, so that's pretty much a wash (correction: we blocked the Memphis FG, and didn't allow any blocked kicks all year) . In a similar vein, we didn't score any TDs on ST, but the only one we allowed was the PR against the Dawgs.

I don't have time or inclination to look up our ST statistics during Boulware's tenure, but I seriously doubt they are significantly better (in fact I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that they aren't as good).

ETA: h/t to lowspark, I forgot that we blocked the Memphis FG, not the other way around.