Miami Football: Special teams should be exceptional in 2019

Part III of the special teams for the Miami football program is a split opposition. The Hurricanes should be exceptional returning kicks in 2019. They need to improve their punting and kick coverage units.

Juniors Jeff Thomas an DeeJay Dallas returned punts for touchdowns in 2018. Behind Dallas and Thomas. The Miami football team finished third in FBS in 2018 with an astronomical 19.82 yards per punt return in 2018. The Hurricanes 33.5 yard average yards per game on punt returns was second nationally.

Dallas, Thomas and graduate transfer K.J. Osborn will be on returns for Miami in 2019. That trio was a part of the depth chart on special teams that the Hurricanes released on Monday. As expected, newcomer, 25-year old redshirt sophomore junior college transfer Lou Hedley will handle the punting and sophomore Bubba Baxa will be the kicker.

Hedley will be backed up by redshirt senior walk-on Jack Spicer. Spicer averaged 37.7 punts in 2018. The Miami football team has to improve their punting this season. That is expected with the addition of Hedley. Between Spicer and the departed Zach Feagles, Miami finished 115th in punting nationally in 2018.

The difficulty of the offense moving the football coupled with the poor punting frequently hindered the Miami defense defending opponents field position. During his Monday press conference, Miami head coach Manny Diaz said that starters will be all over the Hurricanes special teams. Miami also has to improve their coverage units.

Diaz discussed how Hedley can make an impact against Florida and how well he has fit into the team. Hedley’s age, nationality, tattoos and personality were among the topics discussed by Diaz.

"“He’s very bright, wants to be a part of the team, wants to be one of the guys, has really fit in well with the other players, has fit into the team well…When his foot goes to the ball it makes a unique sound, it’s really impressive watching him kick the football.When you talk about how important field position will be in this game he really can be a valuable weapon for us. Could he play another position? he’s can play punter right now. and if we cover right now if we cover well he can run off the field and high five the coaches”"

Neither Dallas or Thomas had enough punt returns to qualify to be ranked nationally in 2018. If they had, Dallas’ 17.4 yards per return would have ranked 20th and Thomas would have been third nationally with a galactic 24.6 yards per punt return.

Osborn finished 17th nationally in 2018 returning 25 punts for Buffalo with an average of 18.4 yards per punt return. There was no separation on the depth chart between kick and punt returns.

Expect running back Lorenzo Lingard to mix in on kick returns in 2019 with Osborn, Dallas and Thomas. The Miami football team finished 23rd in FBS in 2018 with an average of 23.21 yards per kickoff return. Dallas, Thomas and Lingard handled kickoff returns for Miami in 2018.

Dallas averaged 21.6 yards on 17 kickoff returns, Thomas returned 10 kickoffs for 260 yards and Lingard had two kickoff returns for 46 yards. Osborn has 23 kickoff returns over the last two seasons for an average of 19.3 yards per kickoff return.

Like punt returns, Miami has to improve their kickoff return coverage in 2019. The Hurricanes finished 105th in kickoff returns against in 2018 allowing an average of 22.5 yards per return in 2018. Baxa is the only kicker listed on the two-deep depth chart for Miami and expected to handle the kickoffs in 2019.

Baxa made nine of his 12 field goal attempts in 2018. His 75 percent success rate placed him 54th nationally. The struggles of the Miami offense hindered Baxa’s attempts. The 12 field goal attempts ranked the Hurricanes 119th nationally. Baxa’s nine field goals made were 112th.

Baxa made 45 of his 46 extra-point attempts. Baxa’s 97.8 percent placed him 58th on PAT percentage. Redshirt freshman Clay James is listed as the long snapper and Spicer is the holder.