Gopher Football
Kicker & Punter
Replacing Rhys Lloyd as the Gopher kicker this fall will be Jason Giannini. Jason was a member of the Gophers 2004 recruiting class and spent last season as a redshirt. All indications are the Giannini is prepared to step in as the Gophers kicker. As a senior in high school, he had a career long field goal of 49 yards (which he did twice) and made 23 of 25 extra points. Giannini is 5’10″, 180 pounds and is from Canton, Ohio.
Replacing Rhys Lloyd as the Gopher punter will be another redshirt freshman, Justin Kucek. This past spring Kucek impressed many onlookers with both his hangtime and distance on his punts. Kucek is 6’0″ 180 pounds and is from Columbus, Ohio.
Holder & Long Snapper
Sophomore Robert McGarry returns for his second year as the Gopher long snapper. McGarry had a solid freshman year as the long snapper, but does have some room to improve.
Heading into the fall, the holder is still listed as Bryan Cupito. So far in his two years as holder Cupito has done an outstanding job, but like I said in last years preview one would have to think the coaches would prefer not have Cupito be in this role. Expect another player to take this position if they prove they are good enough to handle it.
Coverage & Returns
Minnesota will have their work cut out for them this year in the return game. In 2003, both Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber lit up the Big Ten not only as running backs, but in the return games as well. Things took a definite step back in 2004 though, and now Barber is not in the mix anymore. Part way through last season the coaching stuff did give Gary Russell a shot at kickoff returns in place of Barber, but this didn’t have any impact on the success of the return games. Expect Maroney and Russell to start off this season as the primary return men, unless a less featured player proves they can handle the job. For the punt returner there will be a wide open race. Logan Payne is the guy who has the most experience doing this, but in 2003 he lost this position to Barber. Other players who have experience returning punts are Quinten White and Jakari Wallace, but as with Payne, both of these players have seen only limited success.
The coverage game appears to be in better shape. In a flip flop from 2003, the Gopher coverage games were very good last season. A lot of the players in the coverage game return so on paper things appear to be in good shape once again. Until the Gophers defense starts to improve, it will be imperative for the coverage teams to continue doing a good job.
Around the Big Ten . . .
The past two years have seem some very good kickers, with the likes of Mike Nugent, Dave Rayner and Nate Keading. All those player have graduated, but a few up and comers are looming on the horizon. In my opinion, the best of the bunch will be Iowa junior Kyle Schlicher. Minnesota fans remember Schlicher from last years Iowa contest when the sophomore was 5-5 on FG’s including a 49 yarder. That game was a big confidence builder for Kyle and should springboard him into a great 2005. Other kickers to keep an eye on in the Big Ten are Michigan’s Garret Rivas and Purdue’s Ben Jones. On the punter side, there really are two guys that stand out above everyone else. First is Michigan State’s Brandon Fields; a first team All-Big Ten pick by the media last season. As a sophomore last year, Field averaged 48 yards per punt. It’s hard to imagine he could improve too much more, but he still has two years left to try. Also watch out for Illinois seniorSteve Weatherford, who averaged 45 yards a kick last year and was voted first team All-BigTen by the Coaches.
Last year . . .
For the most part the Gophers special teams were down last year. As a place kicker, Rhys Lloyd was very disappointing. After having a promising 2003, Rhys looked like his confidence shaken last year. Rhys was an average 12-18 on FG’s, but he was only 1-6 from 40+ yards (including 0-2 on 50+ yarders). Rhys was 2-2 on game winning kicks in 2003, but blew his only opportunity last year against Iowa when he missed on a 51 yard attempt. Rhys also missed 4 XP’s in a brutal stretch of a few games in the middle of the season. As a punter Rhys was just not very good, as he finished last in the Big Ten at only 39 yards per punt. As I mentioned above, the Gopher return game was disappointing. They finished 10th in the conference in punt returns, and 8th in kickoff returns. The lone bright spot for the Minnesota special teams was the coverage units. They finished 2nd in the conference in both punt coverage and kickoff return coverage.
Bottom Line . . .
If Minnesota is to compete for a Big Ten championship, the development of the two freshman kickers is crucial. Minnesota has a very tough Big Ten schedule, and probably could go 2-6 as easily as 6-2. If Kucek and Giannini can produce just an average season by Big Ten standards, I think most Gopher fans would be happy. But considering both are freshman and will be playing in their first games, I think it’s reasonable to expect an up and down season from both of them.
Talk about the Gopher Special Teams on the Gopher Football Message Board.