Special teams always top of mind in opener BEHIND THE DESK
BARRY ALVAREZ • UW DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS
Live tackling is one concern. The unknown is another; along with things that you can't control. How are your guys — particu- larly the new guys — going to react to the big crowd?
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How are they going to react to the big scene; the game day envi- ronment?
Special teams are always a con-
cern, too. Rest assured there will be some points given up or made on special teams in the opener. It hap- pens almost every year.
As much time as coaches spend on special teams in practice, they usually haven't gone live with their kick return and kick cover units. They really can't afford to because of the injury consequences. There's also an anxiety in the
first game because you have guys on special teams who haven't played before in many cases. They're walk-ons or young kids trying to earn a spot on the depth chart.
I liked to reward players; es- pecially if they gave you the kind of effort in practice that you were looking for and you knew that they were going to bust it and really sell out on every play.
But they also have to be good enough athletes. Sometimes you see someone working real hard and doing all the right things on the scout team, but is he good enough to hold up with Big Ten athletes?
s a head coach, you always have a list of concerns go- ing into the season opener.
Nick Davis contributed on special teams as a freshman, but it's a role that isn't always easy for a coach to fill — especially in season openers.
Are they good enough to get off a block or avoid a block and make a tackle?
I liked using walk-ons because we could get so many of them. Plus, they always have the right at- titude because they're paying their own tuition. They want to be here. So the effort and the heart and the attitude is a given.
Can you teach them to chase the ball on special teams? It should be pretty easy. We used to take the old "inside and in front'' approach. Keep the ball inside and in front of you if you're covering a kick. We'd preach it all year round in our drills.
Obviously you have to be able to run on kick cover. Most of the time you're locked up one-on-one with an opponent but if you've got speed you can run past him.
You also need a nose for the ball, the natural tendency to find the football. A lot of guys just know how to take the proper angle and avoid the blocker. They just have a feel for it.
As far as returning kicks in the
opener, I was always reluctant to go with a young guy.
It can be just too overwhelm- ing for some of them. You'd like to break them in by doing something else so they can get adjusted to the speed of the game and the feel of the atmosphere.
Nick Davis was an exception. He contributed right away as a fresh- man. I said to him, "I need some- one who can catch kicks." And he responded, "Coach, I can catch BBs in the dark.''
That was good enough for me, and he didn't disappoint.
