Through four games, the performance of Georgia Tech’s special teams has mirrored that of the team as a whole – strong in some areas, but other areas where improvement is necessary.
“The biggest thing is we’ve averted bad plays,” special-teams coordinator Ray Rychleski said.
Tech has blocked three kicks and not had any blocked. Thanks to kicker Harrison Butker’s 18 touchbacks on 24 kickoffs, the opposition’s average start on Tech kickoffs is a hair past the 25-yard line. The opposition’s best field position off a kickoff has been its 35, after an out-of-bounds kickoff. Punter Ryan Rodwell and his unit are netting 39.6 yards per punt, fourth best in the ACC. The opposition’s punt net, with a big boost from a blocked punt that was returned 46 yards, is 28.5 yards.
The two glaring weak spots are perhaps the most unlikely – Butker’s field-goal attempts inside the 40-yard line and kickoff return.
Butker is 2-for-5 inside the 40, including his 24-yard game-winner against Virginia Tech, and 2-for-2 from beyond. He was 5-for-7 inside the 40 last year, and the same beyond. Rychleski was hopeful that the game-winner will give him a confidence boost.
“I’ll keep his head small, because I won’t let him get too big,” Rychleski said of Butker. “But I’m proud of him. Let him just do his job because he’s going to make big kicks for us as the season goes on. I totally believe that.”
The kickoff return team has had 15 returns that weren’t touchbacks. Three have reached the stated goal of the 30-yard line, including a return to the Virginia Tech 35-yard line by Broderick Snoddy on a kickoff that was actually misplayed. The unit had high hopes with the return of Jamal Golden, who returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in 2012, from shoulder surgery. Rychleski said that he will keep returners Golden and Snoddy but insert different players into the unit. He added that he would place an emphasis on it during the open week.
“What we have to do is get the right personnel,” he said.
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