Penn State Football Early Position Preview 2017: Special Teams
By Tommy Butler
Apart from the starting long snapper, Penn State’s special teams squad will be pretty familiar in 2017.
Special teams is widely underrated in football. It’s a pretty common joke that punters and kickers aren’t “real” football players. That’s not even to mention that long snappers are rarely mentioned unless they make a mistake.
Truth is that, no matter your opinion on the lot, they make or break tight games.
Kicker:
Tyler Davis will return for his senior season and will most likely have the starting placekicker job after an incredible first full year kicking for Penn State. After splitting the field goal duties with Joey “Big Toe” Julius in 2015, Davis won the job and went 22-24 on field goals and 62-62 on PATs in 2016.
Davis’ kicking efforts were enough for second place in scoring on the team with 128 points, just behind Saquon Barkley with 132.
Kick off Specialist:
Joey Julius will likely continue as the kick off specialist in 2017. He averaged 62.1 yards and tallied 45 touch backs last year. Julius is also valuable on kickoffs for his tackling ability which he showed off on a couple of occasions last year.
Julius’ only problem is his accuracy. He has the most powerful foot on the team but his kickoffs nearly always hook to his left and ended up out of bounds four times in 2016.
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Punter:
After a record breaking true freshman season in 2016, Blake Gillikin will get the call on fourth and long. Gillikin’s 42.8 yards per punt in 2016 broke Penn State’s freshman season punting average. The record was formally held by Jeremy Kapinos, who averaged 41.9 in 2003.
Long Snapper:
Snapping the ball for Penn State will either be senior Zach Ladonis or Kyle Vasey. Ladonis is the only long snapper currently on the team with any game experience.
Ladonis walked on to the team in 2013 and snapped on punts during five games that season. Neither player has seen action since 2013 as Ladonis missed 2014 due to injury and Vasey was redshirted.
It remains to be seen who will replace Tyler Yazujian, but at the moment, keep an eye on Ladonis to dress in 2017.
Punt/Kick Returners:
Penn State’s kick and punt returners didn’t do too much out of the ordinary in 2016.
John Reid took the brunt of the punts in 2016, averaging 7.5 return yards and no touchdowns on 22 returns. Miles Sanders returned most kickoffs and averaged 20.8 yards on 33 attempts and, again, no touchdowns.
In fact, Penn State didn’t have a single return touchdown in 2016.
Both Reid and Sanders will be back in 2017 and could maintain their roles. As long as both players manage to stay away from the fumble bug on returns it’s unlikely that they will be replaced.
A couple of players in the running for returning are Nick Scott and Gregg Garrity, who saw a couple of attempts each last year.
It’s safe to say that of all the players on the Nittany Lions, Amani Oruwariye is among the least likely to see time returning next year. According to GoPSUSports.com, Oruwariye managed to lose 26 yards on his one punt return attempt of 2016.
Next: Penn State Spring Storyline: The Continued Development of Trace McSorley
Penn State’s special teams coordinator Charles Huff’s job has been made easy. All but one spot is filled with experienced players already. The 2017 Penn State season is looking more and more promising each day.
2017 Early Position Previews