For Gosh sake find someone else to return punts and KO's

[kcsu]

Reading the article on Ish banging his knee trying to field a punt at practice makes me question the coaches. What the heck are we doing taking our top O player and putting him at high risk as a punt returner. Give that position to a frosh running back, second teamer, anyone other than the best WR we have had in years. ing meat head move that needs to be questioned.

 

[rrlbees]

Then everyone could complain about not getting anything out of that unit. Put the best players in return positions and let the chips fall where they may. If it's a starter, OK. If it's not, OK.

 

[OrangeDW]

We had guys like Kevin Johnson, Qadry Ismail, and Quinton Spotwood returning kicks or punts when they were starting WR's, and they made game turning plays on returns.

If Ishmael is good at it and capable of making game changing plays, I say put him back there. If he's a mediocre PR, then that's a different story and it's not worth the risk.

 

[jekelish]

I'm glad we didn't take this attitude with guys like Qadry Ismail, Marvin Harrison, Quinton Spotwood, and Kevin Johnson.

 

[CTMick]

That is one real good thing Coach P did. Special teams were just as important as offense and defense. He put his best players on the field for st plays and got results.

 

[kcsu]

Then everyone could complain about not getting anything out of that unit. Put the best players in return positions and let the chips fall where they may. If it's a starter, OK. If it's not, OK.

Ish is without a doubt our best WR. He is elite at this position and cant be replaced. There isnt another WR on our team that comes close to him. I doubt that the same can be said about him as a PR. If so he would have been back there full time last year. He is simply not that much better as a PR than the next guy to risk losing him at a position that he cannot be replaced at.

 

[longislandcuse]

Ish is without a doubt our best WR. He is elite at this position and cant be replaced. There isnt another WR on our team that comes close to him. I doubt that the same can be said about him as a PR. If so he would have been back there full time last year. He is simply not that much better as a PR than the next guy to risk losing him at a position that he cannot be replaced at.

Yea, this. If we have some other studs at WR, ok, but if the drop off between him and the next guy is noticeable, get him out of the KR/PR spot. I don't even see him being a beast KR/PR anyway.

 

[kcsu]

I'm glad we didn't take this attitude with guys like Qadry Ismail, Marvin Harrison, Quinton Spotwood, and Kevin Johnson.

We had so much more depth at that point as well as a deep team at many positions. This years team simply cannot replace Ish at WR. Our next best wr isnt close to him.

 

[AAM62]

He's just practicing catching punts. He won't do it in a game nor was he severely injured. It's football and stuff happens.

 

[kcsu]

He's just practicing catching punts. He won't do it in a game nor was he severely injured. It's football and stuff happens.

That is good news. Lets look at some stats to decide the value of the punt returner. In an average college football game there are 11 total punts so lets say on the high end 6 per team. Out of those 5-6 opportunities about 25% will result in a fair catch. So at best in a perfect game the PR team has 3-4 chances at a return each game. Again the risk reward just isnt there. Take a look at how many #1NFL receivers return punts.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

"Coach, why do you have our best WR returning punts, he could get hurt?"

"Coach, why don't you have our best athletes returning kicks, we need all the big plays we can get!"

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[Libero2]

My view is, we need every play we can get. We have to make our own luck this year and give our best athletes every opportunity to make a play. We need six wins, if Ish is our best chance to make a play, he needs to be out there to do it.

Hell by your math, he's only going to return 3-4 punts a game, which means his chances of getting injured are still significantly higher as a WR.

As to the NFL argument, everyone on the roster is fast and elusive. Many guys were top notch PR guys in college and frankly many top #1 WRs don't have the body type to be top return men. Calvin Johnson, Roddy White, Julio Jones, Larry Fitzgerald, Vincent Jackson, Brandon Marshall, A.J. green, I mean these are all big bodied guys not smaller shifty elusive dudes.

At the college level their are only so many elite athletes per team (even on the SEC teams) so the stars do more, simply because they are the best and it isn't even a question.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

"Coach, why do you have our best WR returning punts, he could get hurt?"

"Coach, why don't you have our best athletes returning kicks, we need all the big plays we can get!"

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Exactly. I am actually fine using a reserve for both returns but don't really care. Estime seemed to a be a great fir for returning punts.. Did I read something where the staff looked at him as a high risk high reward type guy back there because of some issues fielding punts safely all the time? Don't know

And again, would not at all be surprised if a guy like Ish asked to return punts. not his call but plenty of programs do do it. Nobody had any issue with Kevin Johnson taking a kick back 100 yards versus Wisconsin, he was a pretty good wr.

 

[Trueblue25]

Ish is not even the best option at Return...

In my opinion players like Brisly and Erv are much better

 

[Full_Rebar]

Why is this board always looking at the negative? No one's talking about the great Dixon punt that made it further than the coaches planned...which means he's ready to go for Fall.

 

[TheCusian]

We'll have a return guy and a "safe" guy. I'd bet we're looking for a guy who catches everything after making the fair catch signal.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I'm thankful he wasn't seriously hurt. Luckily the chances of him tripping over an olinemen behind him during returns in a game is nil. Also, 75 yard punt?! Well played Mr Dixon!!!

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I'm thankful he wasn't seriously hurt. Luckily the chances of him tripping over an olinemen behind him during returns in a game is nil. Also, 75 yard punt?! Well played Mr Dixon!!!

Usually a bad result. Gives the returner a huge head start.
That said, angle that puppy out of bounds, then no worries.

 

[Millhouse]

devils advocate. considering how they threw the ball less back then, it makes more sense to let johnson and spotwood return kicks. there was less risk of them getting hurt because they didn't get as many touches on offense

alec lemon had more than double johnson's catches

harrison had 56 catches his senior year. 22 punt returns makes sense if you're not going to throw to him all day, get him the ball more

if you plan on throwing the ball to a guy all day, keep him in one piece

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Does Max Meisel have any eligibility left?

 

[Cusetime]

We need to play the best players we have. Can you see a coach saying this.

"Son your the best player we have at your position and because of that we can't risk you getting hurt so I am benching you for your own safety."

 

[Finwad32]

You can thank Chris Gould for Riley Dixon rising to the top. He may have never even stayed here if Chris didn't think he was our best Punter.

 

[orangeinjersey]

Yes, lets take our best playmaker off special teams returns and find the Steven Rene reincarnate. That will certainly satisfy our return needs.

 

[longislandcuse]

We need to play the best players we have. Can you see a coach saying this.

"Son your the best player we have at your position and because of that we can't risk you getting hurt so I am benching you for your own safety."

Yes, I can...in terms of realistic scenarios since most teams don't put their best WR as punt returner. That's almost a given.

 

[JoeCollege]

What about Richie Rene? Does he have any eligibility left?