Notre Dame Special Teams Looking To Make More Impact In 2018
No coach ever likes to admit he might sometimes play not to lose, but the usually candid and loquacious Brian Polian basically did this week when looking back on his first season as Notre Dame’s special teams coordinator in 2017.
Also the Fighting Irish recruiting coordinator, Polian’s first mandate when it came to special teams was echoing a tenet of the Hippocratic oath: Do no harm.
That was understandable given what transpired in 2016. The Irish yielded a school record five touchdowns on special teams, and myriad snafus within the unit resulted in game-changing plays that helped produce at least five defeats that season. A sixth was barely averted against Miami when the Hurricanes recovered an on-side kick and also directly scored a touchdown off a fumbled punt inside the Irish five-yard line.
“My job last year coming in was, 'We’ve got to stop this,' ” Polian explained.
With the exception of a blocked punt that resulted in an NC State touchdown in the Wolfpack’s 35-14 loss at Notre Dame last season, Notre Dame was able to avoid the crushing plays on special teams for the most part. Another potential such play came when freshman safety Isaiah Robertson did not get out of the way of an LSU punt that hit him to set up a Tigers touchdown drive in the Citrus Bowl, but the Irish rallied late to win, 21-17.
However, because of concentrating foremost on not negatively affecting the game, Notre Dame special teams also did not accomplish much in the way of making a difference on the plus side.
Among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, the Fighting Irish finished 64th in net punting (37.88 yards), 82nd in punt return defense (8.41 yards), 83rd in punt returns (6.24), 84th in kickoff returns (20.34) and 91st in kickoff return defense (22.56).
“We’ve got to now get to the point where we’re making plays,” Polian said. “I was worried about us negatively impacting the game. We got that squared away, for the most part. We need to now positively impact the game.
“That is my job first and foremost — put us in the best schemes, get the right people out there, and then ultimately now we’ve got to identify some difference-making personnel, some guys that can cause double teams or can beat a double team, that can consistently win one on one … we need to do a better job of that.”
The strength of the unit is the core nucleus of fourth-year starters Tyler Newsome and Justin Yoon at punter and kicker, respectively, plus second-year starters at long snapper with John Shannon and kickoff man Jonathan Doerer.
Newsome’s 43.8 career punting average is second in school history, behind long-time NFL punter Craig Hentrich’s 44.1 from 1989-92. Yoon’s .808 field-goal percentage (42 of 52) is easily the best ever at Notre Dame among players who have had at least 50 attempts. Another long-time pro, John Carney (1984-86) is second at .739.
The specific areas Polian wants to upgrade are:
1. Finding a nucleus of three to five players who can lead all four areas (or at least three) on kick and punt coverage, and kick and punt returns.
Polian was elated with the assistance veteran starters such as Greer Martini — graded out as the top player on ST in 2017 — Drue Tranquill and Durham Smythe provided on specific units, but he is seeking a core group that can be leaned on in all phases.
“That needs to grow,” Polian said. “We were using too many mixes of people last year. You look at the number of guys that ended up playing different spots, I’m not sure there were enough that you said this guy is a difference maker on three or four units.
“The one name I think about that I’m so excited to get out there and play is Alohi Gilman. He is going to be the difference maker for us, certainly on the coverage units and in spaces in the return game.”
Sophomore running back/receiver Jafar Armstrong, redshirted last season, is another that immediately comes to mind to Polian.
Other core candidates, for now, include sophomore defensive backs Jordan Genmark Heath, singled out for his efforts in the second half of the season, and the aforementioned Robertson, plus junior linebackers Jonathan Jones and Jamir Jones (no relation).
2. Generating more positive plays is imperative.
This is not just about the return game but also manufacturing turnovers, or pouncing on opportunities. In the Citrus Bowl against LSU, the Irish had two chances to recover fumbled Tiger punts but did not.
“We recovered the muff against USC but there were four other times that the ball was on the ground against our coverage units and the opponent came up with it,” Polian said. “We’ve got to get two or three of those throughout the course of the year. That’s a huge deal.
“We stopped the bleeding. Now we’ve got to get it back moving in the other direction where we’re taking the ball away."
3. With CJ Sanders opting to be a graduate transfer in 2018, who will succeed him as the kick returner?
This inquiry will not be answered in the spring, per Polian. Some of it is because the weather often keeps the team indoors, which is not conducive to battling the elements (or the ceiling).
Part of it also is because other than Armstrong and fellow Irish sophomore receiver Michael Young, some of the top candidates could be freshmen.
“I’d like to rep Jafar there and see what that looks like,” said Polian of the wide open kick return job. “Braden Lenzy, Joseph Wilkins Jr., TaRiq Bracy — we have some freshmen coming in that were explosive space guys that you would say, ‘Alright, I think this is going to translate.’ ”
Far more challenging is punt returns, where Polian is comfortable with senior wideout Chris Finke’s reliability of consistently catching the ball. Young and possibly senior nickel/cornerback Shaun Crawford also could get auditions as punt return prospects this spring.
“What we normally do this time of year is wait to get outside and turn it into a Gong Show,” Polian stated in a deadpan manner.
Better theatre, overall, is what Polian wants from special teams in 2018.
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