Mark Mangino’s football teams typically are among the least-penalized in the nation, and the special teams routinely rank among the best in the Big 12. More often than not, they’re on the right side of the give-away, take-away ratio. All three areas generally are considered accurate barometers of how well-coached a football team is.
Mangino believes in putting the best players on special teams. Some coaches believe in putting the best of the rest, as in non-starters.
The extra attention Mangino pays to special teams makes the cursed punt return unit all the more puzzling. Actually, it’s not so much the unit as the punt returner himself.
Returning punts is the most difficult job in football. It requires making snap decisions when the wind is swirling, the defense is stampeding and the ball is rotating unpredictably. Sure hands are a must, and so is having the speed to do something with the ball once it’s caught. So much to process, so little time and such painful consequences if a decision against signaling for a fair catch backfires.
A year ago, Raimond Pendleton returned one 77 yards for a touchdown, covered the last couple of yards in the air, got aired out for all the world to see on YouTube, kept the job and ultimately lost it because of a penchant for fumbling and poor decision-making.
Anthony Webb, dismissed from the program during this offseason for rules violations, “returned” 19 punts for 16 yards and was able to stay back there because he fumbled just once and recovered it himself.
In the spring game, promising receiver Rell Lewis muffed two punts, and former Free State star quarterback Ryan Murphy mishandled another. If that means they both are out of contention to land the job, then what’s a coach to do?
Just for fun, look up a Kansas University football roster, stop at each name, study it, and ask yourself: How might he perform the duties of returning punts? Does he have good hands? Is he fast enough? Does he make sound decisions on the fly?
If the answers aren’t “yes, yes, yes,” move onto the next name.
I just found a triple-affirmative. Hint: If you want to kill a lot of time, use an alphabetical roster. If you want to find it more quickly, use a numerical one. Don’t read on until you’ve found your man. Done? No, not yet? Then hurry. Done? Yes? OK. Drum roll, please.
And the winner is … No. 10, Kerry Meier.
Sure, he’s an awfully valuable player to expose to such high injury risk, but since when has Mangino gone about his job with that sort of defensive thinking? He puts the best players on the field, even if it means thinking unconventionally. Mangino’s the college version of the NFL’s Bill Belichick in that regard. They see possibilities the way great pool hustlers see shots.
Meier’s a starting receiver and the only proven quarterback behind starter Todd Reesing. He also has great hands and ample speed to return punts and makes sound decisions.
In baseball, a closer is best judged by how he makes our stomachs feel when the bullpen gate swings open. The sight of a punt returner standing alone should be held to the same standard. Meier would be the equivalent of a human Rolaids.
