Part VII: Getting their kicks on special teams

Jonathan Plisco took the question head-on: “One thing I felt held us back in special teams last year was our consistency. We were really great at times. Then sometimes, we weren’t so good. That goes for me too.”

From the perspective of a sports writer, punters can be strange birds, but they are typically topped in that category by place kickers. It’s easy to classify both as a little flaky, given what they do during practice and during games.

They go to hours-long practices and kick stuff around. They don’t go through tackling drills and when the team isn’t practicing its special teams play, punters and kickers are asked to serve as the chain gang. So they stand around holding up the first-down sticks and watching stuff happen.

Plisco is a punter, and a mighty good one at that. He was first-team All-American as a freshman and while he didn’t match that honor the past two seasons, his punting average has remained near the top of the national rankings in the Football Championship Subdivision.

But punting that ball is just part of the special teams package. There are kickoffs, and kick returns and kick coverage and field goals and extra points and punt return teams and snaps and ... there’s a lot going on.

And while Plisco punted well, Rick Lovato snapped well, and placekicker Jarod Brown did a fairly decent job of putting his foot on the ball when it was placed on the ground, ODU’s special teams units didn’t fair all that well.

Brown, by the way, was 57 for 59 on extra points and made 14 of 21 field goal attempts. He proved he has the leg with his school record-setting 51-yarder at the Georgia Dome against Georgia State.

But ... Brown missed his last four field goal attempts in 2012. And only three of his 84 kickoffs went for touchbacks. So there is also room for plenty of improvement there. “If we can win two out of three phases, with the three phases being offense, defense and special teams, then we should be able to win games,” coach Bobby Wilder said. “We weren’t always that good on special teams last season.”

The Monarchs ranked 101st of 120 FCS teams in kickoff returns. Not good. But at the same time, top kick returner Colby Goodwyn missed chunks of time due to injury. Special teams has been a big story for the Monarchs at times, because at times they have been able to identify the weaknesses of the opposition and block field goals, extra points and punts.

But covering on kicks and punts has been suspect, and nobody’s view matches Plisco’s.

“We had guys who would get down the field fast and just blow up the other team’s return plan,” Plisco said. “But there were also times when I’d be looking down the field and wonder what happened to our gap integrity. We were stacking gaps and returners were getting open lanes to run down.”

Wilder and Plisco both contend that with a deep incoming crop of big-skill players – i.e. linebackers and stand-up defensive ends – the quality of players to choose from should improve ODU’s coverage teams.

“For some, it will be the younger players’ tickets onto the field,” Plisco said. “And if we are decent on special teams, then we already know we are already a special team on offense.”