Darryl Stonum's Kick Returns
Not much information here, but I merely wanted to call attention to Stonum's kick returns, given the ration of shit he's taken on MGoBoard lately. He averaged 31.1 yards per return with a high of only 45 - in other words, virtually every time he touched the ball, he gave us above-average field position given the length of the kick. He looked consistently dangerous, broke tackles, and on a few ocassions was a single trip-up from taking it all the way. He's displaying the potential to be, on a yards/kick basis, as good a returner as Steve Breaston was.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:56 AM ^
Most returners, particularly the younger ones are too busy going east and west looking for a seam. The truly succesful returners first steps are always forward up the field and Stonum does that.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:08 AM ^
I made it a point to show this out to my son who has a game today. The good ones find their crease and go or will just take what they can get and be done with it. There's no thinking about it or time to scan the field.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^
I cannot underscore the importance of a kick returner emerging. Stonum's emergence will aid in field position and with Mesko punting a lot of teams will be pinned back, helping the struggling defense.
I like how Stonum doesn't hesitate. He identifies and hits the holes and has great acceleration. I wonder if he should be used on punt returns now that there hasn't been a fumble (Matthews is there because of sure hands, but he can't accelerate off the ball).
September 27th, 2009 at 10:10 AM ^
I think that Stonum's ability stems from making moves once up to full speed, not something that necessarily translates well to returning punts where you need side to side elusiveness to get free. Maybe he should get a shot at PR but I would be fine with Mathew's sure hands at this point.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:06 AM ^
Maybe even as good as that Howard fellow! ;~)
September 27th, 2009 at 10:08 AM ^
returner. Hopefully, he'll be a great WR next year.
I wonder if he could return punts?
September 27th, 2009 at 10:13 AM ^
return punts but it requires a different skill set than returning kicks. someone like tay odoms or jeremy gallon (watch for him to return punts next year) who is more shifty is better suited for PR. a straight line blazer like stonum is better utilized for KR. it's rare that you have someone like breaston who has both skillsets
September 27th, 2009 at 10:19 AM ^
Stonum has been a blessing at KR. He just keeps on going, hits a seem and breaks a tackle or two. He's become quite a weapon.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:10 AM ^
He averaged 31.1 yards per return with a high of only 45...He looked consistently dangerous, broke tackles, and on a few ocassions was a single trip-up from taking it all the way.
Am I misreading something? Didn't he take one 94 yards to the house against ND?
September 27th, 2009 at 11:14 AM ^
I believe those were his stats for the Indiana game, not the season.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:17 AM ^
Yup...you replied before I could edit my comment. I did misread the OP. My bad.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:38 AM ^
is probably my favorite player. You can see his improvement every game
September 27th, 2009 at 12:02 PM ^
What's more, we seem to be doing a better job of blocking for him and opening up running lanes than we did for Breaston. Breaston always seemed to have to dodge a ton of unblocked tacklers once he crossed the 20.
September 27th, 2009 at 12:23 PM ^
stonum runs with enough speed and power to break a lot of arm tackles, while not losing any speed. it seemed like every kick yesterday came out to between the 30 and 40 yard line. ill take that any day.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:20 PM ^
A few of Stonum's returns, it should also be noted, were on kicks most players would've taken a knee, as he caught the ball deep in the end zone. He's emerging as a good weapon.
September 27th, 2009 at 2:17 PM ^
he had 218 KO return yards yesterday, only 5! away from Breaston's UM single-game record of 223 (Rose Bowl v. Texas)
September 27th, 2009 at 5:04 PM ^
I feel that he does a better job returning than Odoms, and during the ND game, it seemed that ND was kicking away from Stonum on purpose.
Sometimes, I see teams line up their top return man and their other return man next to each other in the middle of the field before the kick. As the kicker starts his run to kick the ball, the two separate quickly to the hash marks. I wish we would do this when/if teams start to kick away from Stonum so that the other team can't know for sure where he's lined up.