Auditions for punt returner
Auditions for punt returner continued Monday with safety Cooper Taylor, A-back Embry Peeples and wideout Daniel McKayhan getting their shots.
The front-runners still appear to be A-back Roddy Jones and cornerback Jerrard Tarrant.
Tech is trying to improve a unit that ranked ninth in the ACC, averaging 6.7 yards per return.
(Quick aside on kickoff returns, which were also sub-par. Tech ranked 10th in the league, 19.6 yards per return. The candidates for that job include Jones, Tarrant and Marcus Wright.)
Talking to wide receivers coach Al “Buzz” Preston, who also coaches punt returners, it was clear that ball security will be the most important factor in choosing a punt returner. He kept going back to it.
Tech lost fumbles on three punt returns last season: Tyler Melton at Boston College, Roddy Jones at UNC, and Andrew Smith vs. LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
“No. 1, catch the ball and don’t fumble it,” Preston said. “If your guy can catch it, make quality decisions and get north, you’ve got a chance to be pretty good.
“No. 1, catch it. No. 2, good decisions, being able to know when to make a call to get everybody out of there, when to catch it, fair-catch it, not catch it – the decision-making process.
“Then the ability to make something happen after the catch.”
Improving the punt-return unit is critical.
“You’re talking field position, you’re talking turnovers,” Preston said.
So far in spring practice, Preston said, “Tarrant and Roddy have looked pretty good. Those guys are probably the two leaders right now. Roddy’s done it. And Tarrant, he was somebody that we thought was going to be special but we didn’t have him last year.”
Jones returned six punts last year for 53 yards, a healthy 8.8-yard average. (The average would have been good for fourth in the conference if he had more attempts).
So who would you like to see return punts?
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66 comments Add your comment
MinnesotaJacket
April 7th, 2009
1:52 pm
Greyhound good point…going point
mk52
April 7th, 2009
2:01 pm
IMHO, Tarrant should be returning kicks. The guy was amazing at Carrollton runnning back punts and kickoffs. He was just flat-out special when he had the ball in his hands on a return.
dawggone
April 7th, 2009
2:40 pm
The dawgs are gonna kick your ASS this season and the stars will then move back into proper alignment. You and your little piss ant stadium, your bug mascot, your ugly women, your getto campus, your washed out school colors…your stuped car. GOD WHAT A PATHETIC BUNCH OF NURDS! PS. Don’t bother writing back. I’ve got better things to do than stick around.
Ya'll R Dumb
April 7th, 2009
2:42 pm
wow, we went this long before someone noticed that if jones had 8 returns for 53 yards he DID NOT avg 8.8 yds/ret it was only 6.63 yds/ret. so everyone bashing everyone else about their degrees and what not, are wasting space here for not critiquing what we are here to critique and thats the actual article and our thoughts on the team. Bunch of morons! pay attention.
Anyways…
the punt return will be better, probably like 5-7 in the conference. While an improvement is still mediocre.
cluett peabody
April 7th, 2009
3:30 pm
M, May I respectfully remind you to always sign your post with Tgag. It makes my day, is very funny and irks those with no sense of humor.
Tgag!
Larry Hartstein
April 7th, 2009
3:56 pm
Thanks for catching that typo. It was six punt returns by Jones, not eight. Fixed now.
MinnesotaJacket
April 7th, 2009
4:24 pm
I wouldn’t mind seeing Tarrant running back punt returns this year what so ever. I still see it as Roddy’s job to lose though in the end. Also anyone want to make realistic guesses that Tech will struggle in? I would say the Clemson game will be an early indicator of our year with Spiller testing how good our D will be but I say our D-Line is better than people will give us credit and that will be the big thing for us which will get us through them and Miami. The VT game will be a close game and I say we pull it out since we are at home, but the game at Virginia is were I see us slipping (because Tech NEVER wins AT Virginia) and the other potential loss being to NC at home (don’t know why I just see us struggling in that game) but then I still see us winning the ACC against FSU in the championship game. I don’t even need to mention the fact that Georgia poses no concern considering they can’t tackle and our secondary will actually be able to cover people this year and we all know good ole Joe ain’t going to be playing at the GT game and our d-backs will give their freshmen quarterback fits the entire game and our linebackers allowing no running room for Caleb!!
THWG Go Jackets!! (Heading home from work now haha)
surfrider
April 7th, 2009
4:46 pm
It’s great they are focusing on special teams. Bobby Ross was comprehenssive in his preparation of every aspect of the game. Dodd from what I heard believed in field position. It’s a big difference if one can start at their own 35 yard line or better verse inside the 20 yard line. Randy Rhino and Willie Clay were two of better ones I’ve seen at Tech but there have been several. The Dawgs had a great one named Woerner in the late 79’s. Catching the ball is critical and like the coach said north south and look for the seams. It’s hard to remember when Tech had so many options in their return game.
well
April 7th, 2009
4:48 pm
It’s obvious that nobody here has been to practice. Tarrant will win the PR job easily.
Dawg fans- Good luck with Joe Tereshinski…err I mean Joe Cox
Minnesota Jacket
April 7th, 2009
5:22 pm
Well…kind of hard for most of us when I think some of the most represented people here don’t live in the state of Georgia at the moment so please enlighten us…
superDawg
April 7th, 2009
9:02 pm
PHRASE FOR THE YEAR TECH SUX!THAT MEANS ALL OF YOU!AND DON’T YOU EVER FORGET IT.
superDawg
April 7th, 2009
9:03 pm
M you have a pretty mouth.
patrickr
April 7th, 2009
10:07 pm
Larry – You and Ken are doing a great job covering GT football, keep it going! Also, could you please provide us with some insite on what criteria the coaches decide to switch a player from the offensive line to the defensive line and visa versa? Is it a player’s request to be evaluated for a switch, or does it have more to due with size, agility, aggresiveness, quickness, etc… It seems to me that the type of offensive lineman we want are quick, aggresive, and the bigger the beter. Those traits would also be good for Defensive lineman.
Jackets1
April 7th, 2009
10:43 pm
still leads me to conclude T. Evans was the most underrated returner we ever had. Wish we could bring him out of retirement. In his two years bf he got hurt he averaged 9.7 yards/return with ZERO drops (which would have been nice last year). Although not the complete homerun threat, he was SURE HANDED. Not to mention he finished 2nd to Eddie Royal in total return yards in the ACC in 2007 (a stat that not many people look to). But to the present….Terrant will win the job. Great hands and great “home run” ability.
Tokyo jacket
April 7th, 2009
11:19 pm
MN Jacket, you should probably reflect on size of punt returners a little bit. Wright is a clone of Charlie Rogers. Charlie was DEFINITELY the best return man at Tech in the past 15 years. He led the NFL in punt return yardage and TDs in his rookie season. He was 5′9″ and about 180 lbs. Wright has the same build, the same shiftiness, but is a butt ton faster! He’s a water bug and that’s what you need at punt returner.
Regardless, I want to see positive gains from PR and KR this year. If it’s Terrant, cool. If it’s Wright, cool. If the waterboy gets us 10 yds per PR, cool. Our guys on the end have to keep the gunners at least a yard away from the returner to give him an opportunity to move.
Tarrant is THE MAN!
April 8th, 2009
12:06 pm
Jerrard Tarrant is the best option for punt returns – book it. If PJ has him returning punts it’s gonna be fun to watch …. kind of like “Neon Deion” Sanders with the (ATL) Falcons. And with a weapon like Tarrant returning punts it will put TONS of pressure on the opposing punt teams, especially when these kids start trying to “angle” punts away from him [JT]. This is where Tech’s return team will see lots of shanked punts.
Now, all of the folks on here thinking Kelly Rhino was good should be ashamed of themselves. This kid should not have been on a D-1 roster, much less actually playing at the D-1 level! But I guess that’s what you get when your dad & granddad were as good as they were. Fact, K. Rhino was a joke, and YES, his 3-FUMBLE performance in the Peach Bowl summed-up his career. I’m not denying he had heart, and a motor that never stopped, but his size & ability were more suited for D-1AA or lower.
Punt returns can change a game; a team needs a returner that has the ability to take it the distance EVERY time he touches the ball. Kelly Rhino was NEVER that threat. Jerrand Tarrant, on the other had, is.