Against Duke on Saturday, Georgia Tech’s kick-return game struggled after J.J. Green left the game with a right leg injury. With Green unlikely to play Saturday against North Carolina, coaches have been taking a look at other options to run back kickoffs.
“We’re going to be working on some things,” A-backs coach and special-teams coordinator Lamar Owens said. “Hopefully by later in the week, we’ll be able to firm down what we’re going to do, but it has to improve.”
Owens said that he works with a group of six players as returners. On Saturday, after Green’s injury, Lance Austin returned three kicks, averaging 12.7 yards per return. The returns made it to the Duke 17-, 10- and 14-yard lines. The last two were taken in the end zone and at the goal line, where a touchback would have started the ensuing possession at the 25-yard line.
“We just have to make better decisions and play with the proper technique so we can execute it,” Owens said.
There is a depth in the end zone beyond which players are instructed to take a knee, although the distance varies by opponent and by returner.
“At that point, when we hadn’t gotten it back to the 15, there was a rule: Don’t bring it out of the end zone,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that other players deep with the returner need to do a better job of communicating with him to take a knee if the situation calls for it.
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