Blake Corum - 2020 Punt Returner?
Hi All,
I watched the press briefing with Jay Harbaugh and he had mentioned that Blake Corum is going to get some work in the return game. Made me think about Blake's role on the 2020 team. Given the depth at our RB position, I feel like him as a punt returner this Fall would be a great impact role for him his freshman season before he becomes a main back in 2021.
Judging by his mentality and his skillset - I'm certain he's going to have some type of impact role this season. He is short, compact, fast and shifty. Seems like he could be a great candidate back there. Him as PR and Giles Jackson as KR seems like a very strong return unit for us.
Wondering what others thoughts are on Michigan's return unit and special teams unit in general headed into 2020?
freshmen returning punts? highly unlikely. Returning kicks could happen.
DPJ did it.
And boy did it show. All 3 years.
His tape against Mater Dei was incredible - one man show against the #1 team in the country.
I think we want Roman Wilson back there if anybody. Doesn’t he run like a 4.39 40.
He runs a 4.40 39. Pretty, pretty, close.
I’m not so sure he won’t be the #1 back when the season starts. This young man is special. The kind of special that we haven’t had since that kind of special rolled into AA 17 years ago.
If he starts that means he’s Saquan Barkley level good. ZC and HH are really, really good backs.
Please don't tell me that Mike Hart was 17 freaking years ago. Where do the years go?
16 years ago. Much better
Punt return is a tough job at the college level. Much tougher the KR.
I’d like to see Dax Hill. He seems like a special athlete.
DPJ did it well but was much better as an upperclassman. Jabril was spectacular. Being a good RB doesn’t always translate. You need to judge ball flight and have really good hands.
Maybe Blake has those skill sets. He sure looks good in the open field.
Most important to me in PR game is finding somebody with Peppers-like awareness first. Catching the right balls, sure hands, no fumbles wins games. Having wheels and game breaking speed to score every now and then and flip the field is a close second but those opportunities are few against meaningful teams.
I couldn’t agree with you more.....and I appreciate the irony.
Remember how angry Peppers would get when a punter would kick away from him and he couldn't risk going after the ball and it would take a bad hop, stay in bounds and roll for another 10 yards?
He would just be jumping up and down screaming.
I always loved that he understood the importance of the hidden yards.
Sometimes he wouldn't even catch the ball on the sidelines...he'd just run as fast as he could over to it and find a way to bat it out of bounds.
It's like his whole thing was if I'm standing here. That ball cannot go behind me unless it's going through the endzone. It was like a game within the game for him.
DPJ did that a little bit as well. He just wasn't as good at it. But watch ND from last year and you'll see him chase down punt after punt and Fowler would always say something because of the weather conditions.
Sidenote. My assumption is Ronnie Bell will start the year as the returner until someone else is ready.
I would love to see a stat on how many challenging fair catch yards he saved. He had to lead the country. It was the best I can remember.
Can he catch a punt?
Asking because I don't know.
I was pretty tired of watching DPJ make the easy ones look tough and the tough ones looks impossible.
But then, after Pepper's everybody looks wobbly.
In one of his highlights, he literally catches a punt in each hand during warm ups. One handed punt catching isn’t the preferred form but at least we know he can do it. He does have a few punt return highlights also.
I know he didn't maximize all of it at Michigan...but damn if that kid wasn't insanely talented.
I still think he's the most talented player Michigan's had since Woodson.
Another favorite of mine (in addition to saving the hidden yards on punts), was how he routinely blew up screen passes to his side. You just couldn't block him.
Seldon would be fine with me.
So haskins and charbonnet are just gonna be backups to him when he is a sophmore? Doubt it..