Special Teams and Strength & Condition coaching also need serious attention

[SalUteopia]

The offense has deservedly faced criticism, but the STs and S&C coaching also need serious attention, and possibly a complete overhaul. We potentially could’ve won a couple more games in the last two seasons with better ST play. I’m not sure if this is a coaching issue, but things have clearly regressed. Punting was solid this year, but kickoffs were not, and it’s baffling that we couldn’t consistently achieve touchbacks (Whitt confirmed short kicks weren’t by design).
Injuries are another serious concern. While every team deals with them, ours seem to go beyond bad luck — whether it’s the turf, cleats, or issues in S&C, it all needs closer scrutiny.
What’re your thoughts?

[UtahPilot47]

I have beat this drum before… Utah needs a kicking coach. Teams with great kickers have kicking coaches that know kicking and punting. Utah got lucky in the past with their kickers. They are recruiting top level kids and should expect that level of performance for the season.

[SalUteopia]

A FG is worth half a TD, so it makes sense to invest more in our kicking game. While we shouldn’t rely on kickers to win games, they shouldn’t be the reason we lose either. I’m optimistic about the new kicker we just signed.

[W16Ute]

Totally agree! Special teams have been terrible going back 3 years, at least. (Was it 2 blocked punts against Oregon St two seasons ago?) Shah is great with the DBs but clearly not a special teams guru. Need to make a change and now is the time.

[jshame17]

Shah is the special teams coach now and I think it’s caused him to drop off on DBs and recruiting.

If Whitt stays, I hope he lets Morgan run the team and defense, let the OC do his own thing and Whitt can just focus on ST.

[jamarcus24]

I believe that’s what Urban Meyer did when he was here. Whit ran the defense, Sanford ran the offense, Urban oversaw it all, but he ran special teams. I don’t recall whether or not we had stellar kicking or punting, but I do recall our coverages were excellent and we went after punters a lot.

[2008 National Champ]

Urban coached special teams wherever he was at and all starters were available for him to use. That’s one advantage of having the head coach doing it, they don’t want their 1/3 to be the let down.

I looked up the 2004 stats. David Carroll / Bryan Borreson combined to make 100% of their field goals. All 7 of them. Can’t stop laughing since it sometimes seems like Whitt will try 7 field goals in one game. 7 field goal attempts in a 12 game season with 75 extra point attempts is Tecmo Bowl worthy.

[Rick Walker]

Are special teams was top notch when Jay Hill was in charge of them🥲

[SalUteopia]

I like the way you think — 1 stone, 3 birds!

[utefansince79]

ST had a few bright moments including a blocked FG returned or a TD against Baylor, a blocked punt for a TD against the Cyclones, and at least one other blocked FG in other games. But on the other hand inconsistent place kicking cost us dearly at times, our return game was non-existent and we gave up a KO return for a TD against BYU and punt return for a TD in Boulder. Had at least one of our punts blocked at one point too.

[2008 National Champ]

Part of the kickoff problem is that Utah rarely uses their FG kicker to do kickoffs, even going back to Matt Gay. Wishnowsky would kickoff instead of Gay. Coleman has been doing the kickoffs most of the year, not Becker.

[SalUteopia]

I haven’t paid too much attention to other teams, but I always assumed kicker and punter are separate. Why is it a problem? Seemed to work great with Gay/Wishnowsky and Andy/Hackett.

[UtahPilot47]

It is inexcusable for a D1 kicker to not be able to put the ball deep in the end zone 80% of the time. Utah is signing top kicking recruits. The top kids coming out of high school now can easily kick 55 yard fg’s and put all their kicks into the endzone.

[2008 National Champ]

If only Utah had an advantage of thinner air for half their games to make it easier to get touchbacks.,,

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