University of Tennessee Athletics
Special Teams Key for Tennessee, South Carolina
October 30, 2009 | Football
Oct. 30, 2009
BY BETH RUCKER
The Associated Press
Tennessee and South Carolina's performances on special teams in recent weeks have been anything but special.
Just a little bit of improvement for either team might make the difference when the Volunteers (3-4, 1-3 Southeastern Conference) host the 21st-ranked Gamecocks (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday night.
The two teams rank among the worst in the country in covering kickoff returns. The Vols also added field goal protection to their list of special-team problems last week with two blocked attempts.
"And it's killing us," Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin said.
Both teams are allowing about 28 yards per kickoff return and have given up two returns for touchdowns.
Georgia's Brandon Boykin posted the school's first 100-yard kickoff return against South Carolina on Sept. 12 and then did it again against Tennessee a month later.
The Vols also allowed Ohio's Chris Garrett to return a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown on Sept. 26. Vanderbilt's Warren Norman took one 99 yards for a score while giving the Gamecocks a scare in their 14-10 win Saturday.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said there will be a few changes in the coverage team this week, but he wouldn't be specific.
"You hate to kick a grounder down there and let them start on the 35 or 40," Spurrier said.
But booming kicks haven't been much better for the Gamecocks. Opponents' average starting position is their own 33 after South Carolina kicks off, the worst coverage in the SEC. The Gamecocks have just one touchback.
Gamecocks special teams coach Shane Beamer yanked Adam Yates from kickoffs after Norman's return. Yates and kicker Spencer Lanning have both worked on kickoffs this week in practice, although Beamer would prefer to have Lanning concentrate on field goals and PATs.
And even though Spurrier seems resigned to the poor kickoff coverage, he is still holding out that something will change in South Carolina's final four games.
"Hopefully we can boom it down there and keep the inside the 30," Spurrier said. "That would be good for us."
Tennessee kicker Daniel Lincoln spent part of this week resting his leg after having two field-goal attempts, including a 44-yarder on the last play of the game, blocked by Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody in the Crimson Tide's 12-10 win on Saturday.
Lincoln reaggravated a quadriceps injury during pregame warmups, and both attempts were low, Kiffin said. The Vols also fell apart on coverage on both attempts.
Lincoln sat out of every practice in the week before facing Auburn on Oct. 3 to rest his leg but said he was about 90 percent Saturday until late in the pregame warmup.
"I'm not going to stand here and use injuries as an excuse for my performance. Nobody at any other position would do that," he said. "I'm not 100 percent, but who is 100 percent this time of year, at any position?"
Kiffin is trying to make a few quick fixes to his coverage teams by moving players around.
But the ultimate fix, he said, will come down the road in recruiting.
"We've got to continue to recruit great depth and great players," he said. "If you start missing on five, six (talented) guys every year, after four classes that's 24 guys right there sitting there that maybe can't play at this level. Special teams will always have to do with the bottom of your recruiting class and recruiting really good players and not missing on guys."
