Best guesses on who handles returns?

Submitted by jimmyshi03 on

Obviously we will miss Peppers on defense and on special teams, but we also lose a couple of his primary backups/co-returners, like Chesson and Jourdan Lewis. Who would you like to see back there in the spring and against Florida? Is there an open competition or do you think there's a favorite?

I'd love to see Evans, Isaac, McDoom and a couple of the freshmen at least get a look in spring. 

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Rocky Mountain…

January 10th, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^

1,  What NFL team drafts Peppers?

2.  What starter next year gets #5?

3.  Who plays Viper next year?

4.  Who is our wildcat QB next year?

5.  What position does Peppers play in the NFL?

6.   Who is our Heisman candidate this upcoming season?

7.  Does Peppers leaving help our recruiting finish this cycle?

 

 

Seems like a good start...

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Wolfman

January 10th, 2017 at 8:04 PM ^

No team had ever thought about putting the world's fastest man at the wide receiver position. Not only could he catch, he became an All-Pro. So, in a proactive measure, I suggest posting a Punt/Kick returner wanted for the football team on the track team's bulletin board and see what shakes out; maybe nada, maybe mucho

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BiaBiakabutuka21

January 10th, 2017 at 8:20 PM ^

McDoom was mostly used on jet sweeps and such which showed off his elusiveness but he also made a really impressive catch early on in the season on a hard slant that showed off his hands too.  I think his combination of great hands, slipperyness, and explosiveness makes him the early favorite on punt returns.  Granted, very small sample size on the hands thing but the potential is clearly there.  Yelling McDoom on all punt returns goes along way for me too.

I'd also give a chance to Nate Johnson and DPJ too.  DPJ just won best hands at the army game and is clearly an amazing athlete.  Nate Johnson showed some amazing hands, body control, and elusiveness in his high school film.

People have been ripping on Isaac above but I wouldn't be surprised to see him on Kick Off returns.  He has some impressive top end speed and shiftyness.  I'd include Evans too but I don't know if you want your starting RB doing returns and Evans is the front runner to be the starting RB.

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Mr. Elbel

January 10th, 2017 at 10:00 PM ^

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

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gobluedave

January 11th, 2017 at 6:27 AM ^

neg away but peppers fair caught too many balls. fine against lesser teams but not fine when the offense is inept and the game is on the line. I'm looking fwd to seeing the next guy.

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Magnus

January 11th, 2017 at 8:59 AM ^

Everyone's got a complaint...

Does anyone want to go back to the days of Amara Darboh, Dennis Norfleet, or Greg Mathews returning punts? We keep saying the next guy will be better, or we can find someone who can do this or that. At some point you can't. Or at least it will be a long time before you can.

It's been over a decade since we had a better punt returner than Jabrill Peppers, and that guy was Steve Breaston. Give me Peppers every day until we can find the next Breaston.

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Magnus

January 11th, 2017 at 9:41 AM ^

I do not think Evans will be returning punts, anyway, so that's probably a moot point. Regardless, preventing a punt from rolling an extra 15 yards is 15 yards of hidden yardage. In addition to that, Peppers averaged 14.76 yards per return and scored a touchdown. He was #5 nationally in punt return average, and he was 4.6 yards/return better than the next best guy in the Big Ten (Desmond King).

Joined: 07/17/2008

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gobluedave

January 11th, 2017 at 9:53 AM ^

Exactly why I wanted to see more returns. Anyway, he was great, i just think evans may be great too. We shall see. I get the hidden yardage thing too trust me. Each time I saw him do it, I thought man I hope he doesn't fumble one of those cuz it might be the last time they let him do it.

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Ali G Bomaye

January 11th, 2017 at 9:22 AM ^

As Brian mentioned repeatedly, Peppers caught a lot of balls that most returners wouldn't have gotten to. In the age of spread/rugby punting, that's the best way to save your offense a bunch of yards.

Also, Peppers was third in the country in punt return yards. There just aren't that many punts that are returnable.

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Magnus

January 11th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^

Fair catches are never going to be 100% the right decision. Wilton Speight doesn't throw to the right guy 100% of the time, De'Veon Smith doesn't hit the right hole 100% of the time, Taco Charlton doesn't keep outside contain 100% of the time, etc. Just because he made a fair catch once or twice when he shouldn't have doesn't mean he was poor at his job, nor does it mean we can find someone next year who's better. Furthermore, if you look around the country at other elite punt returners, they're doing the same thing at times.

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