It has been more than seven years since Georgia Tech returned a punt for a touchdown. It’s the longest drought among ACC teams and one of the longest among all FBS teams.
That fact isn’t an indictment of the Yellow Jackets special teams. Returning a punt for a touchdown is something that can’t be planned for and typically takes an odd combination of events: either the punt is kicked too long or too short – which messes up the coverage scheme – there are missed tackles, good moves and good blocks. It’s rare for all of those things to happen on one play.
“It’s not like they happen overnight unless you’ve got some gifted guys back there returning,” Tech coach Paul Johnson said.
There is an impact. In the last 10 years before last week’s games, ACC teams that have returned punts for touchdowns are 58-14. Tech will get another chance when it plays the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on Saturday.
Lamar Owens, Tech’s special teams coordinator, said a good return starts with making sure that returner, typically Brad Stewart, holds onto the ball. He has done so this season.
Owens said the next goal is to return the punt at least 10 yards. A great return is anything past 20 yards. Stewart is averaging 15 yards on seven returns this season. Tech has five returns of at least 10 yards and 1 of at least 20 with a long of 26.
“There’s been a couple,” Stewart said. “Just one little mistake I’ve made or one block that could have been blocked a little bit long. We’re going to get there. We’ve had a couple of close ones.”
Georgia Tech last returned a punt for a touchdown in 2009.
Like most things, a weird confluence of events happened.
The opponent was Clemson. It was a Thursday night game with an electric atmosphere.
Jeff Monken, now the coach at Army, was then Georgia Tech’s special teams coordinator. Early in the first quarter, the Tigers lined up for a 55-yard field goal.
Monken remembers turning to Johnson and asking if they should put a returner back, just in case the kick was short or if Clemson punted out of the field goal formation. Johnson liked the idea.
Clemson called a timeout, which gave the Yellow Jackets time to go over the plan.
Tech rushed 10 players, with Jerrard Tarrant back as the return man.
Instead of attempting the field goal, Clemson snapped the ball directly to placekicker Richard Jackson – whom ESPN’s Chris Fowler had just noted on the broadcast was also a punter — who tried a pooch punt from the left hash into the right corner.
Jackson didn’t kick it far enough – satisfying one in the combination of events that usually need to happen.
Tarrant caught it at the 15 and immediately split two tacklers – a good move is another of the elements.
Because the kick was too short, Clemson’s coverage team didn’t have the proper angles to try to tackle Tarrant after the first two players missed. A third player ran wide to his right to cover that lane.
Tarrant took off down the Tigers sideline for an 85-yard touchdown and 14-0 lead.
Coincidentally, it was the second consecutive game Tarrant returned a punt for a touchdown after he scored on a 68-yard scamper against Jacksonville State in the season-opener the previous week.
Who knew it would be 133 returns and Tech would still be waiting for its next return for a touchdown?
It seems Tech and special teams droughts are common for the good and bad. While Tech hasn’t scored on a punt, its opponents haven’t returned one for a touchdown since N.C. State did so in 2010. It’s also the longest streak among the ACC teams.
Jamal Golden’s kickoff return for a touchdown in 2012 broke a streak that went back to 1998.
Perhaps returning a punt for a touchdown is next, though it won’t be easy against the Tar Heels, which are second in the ACC with a net yards per punt (40.7) with just one returned.
“Hopefully we’ll change that this year,” Stewart said. “We’ll see.”
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