The ninth and final installment in a series of position-by-position breakdowns of the 2018 Wildcats by WildcatReport's Tim Chapman.
Coach Pat Fitzgerald has always followed what his mentor and coach, Gary Barnett, did in placing high emphasis on special teams. While he’s recently been in charge of special teams himself, the NCAA’s new allowance of an extra on-field assistant coach propelled the Wildcats to bring home a familiar face.
Jeff Genyk returns for his third stint in Evanston, coming over from Vanderbilt as the new special teams coordinator, the first in the Fitzgerald Era (the staff previously divided up the specialty units among the assistant coaches). Genyk coached the Northwestern special teams squad from 1998-2003 under Barnett and Randy Walker, Fitzgerald’s coaching mentors.
Genyk in his 27-year career has produced three specialists who earned a total of six first-team all-conference awards, including a runner up for the Lou Groza Award (Andrew Wellock at EMU) for the top kicker in the nation.
At Vanderbilt, Genyk’s units ranked 19th in kickoff success rate, which is good news considering the Wildcats will be breaking in a new kick-off specialist, and with a talented defense taking the field, limiting field position will be key to their accomplishments.
When Genyk started his most recent post in 2016, he led an increase in overall special teams play, with Vanderbilt’s rankings jumping 49 spots to 60th nationally. They took some steps back last season, but much of that was a product of personnel, both for and against the Commodores, and a Southeastern Conference that claimed both of the teams that wound up in the national championship game.
It will be interesting to see how a specialized coach in this area will affect not only overall special teams output, but also how it may improve the play of other individual groups, now that those previous coaches have more focused concentration on their primary entity.
Only three times in the past 10 years has Northwestern finished higher than 65th in renowned college football analyst Phil Steele’s aggregate special teams rankings, and in two of those three seasons the Wildcats won ten games. So, clearly, when the special teams are playing well, this team is a championship-caliber squad.
The good
Genyk has an impressive track record working with talented kickers, and his new three-point specialist, returning sophomore Charlie Kuhbander, is good. His numbers were better than any other Northwestern kicker in their first season, despite being limited on his opportunities last season. With some of the stabilizing ropes being cut off of him this year, we expect Kuhbander to provide an even greater addition to this offense.
Kick returns should be exciting again with the return of a healthy Solomon Vault. Even if the fifth-year senior is changed slightly by the lower-body injury that sidelined him for all of 2017, he may be better than nearly any other return man in the conference. That’s a gift that Fitzgerald will love to have back.
There’s a lot of depth with experience on this roster, and that usually means an enhancement in special teams performance. With such a rigorous schedule to get into championship contention in late October/early November, this toolbelt of special teams utilities will certainly help in any efforts to claw and separate.
Areas to improve
While they statistically improved in their overall special teams play last season, there are still areas that the Wildcats need to sharpen.
The return units were slow to get going and no real returner was established, except for Riley Lees as the punt returner, but that wasn’t until game 10 against Purdue. The momentum and energy of this team will be greatly enhanced with some key returns, particularly early in the season.
The Wildcats also need to secure a reliable kickoff specialist. Field position is a big part of this team’s game plan, both offensively and defensively. Having a guy who can limit big returns by racking up touchbacks and keeping the ball between the sidelines will help in this regard.
What it comes down to
In special teams, it often comes down to a having difference-maker. Think back to the 10-win teams that Northwestern has had recently. In 1995, it was Brian Musso returning punts, Sam Valenzisi kicking field goals and Paul Burton punting. In 2012, it was Venric Mark returning punts, Jeff Budzien kicking field goals and Brandon Williams securing field position with his high-hanging punts. In 2015, Vault was returning kicks and Jack Mitchell was consistently making important FGs. Then last year they had Kuhbander and veteran punter Hunter Niswander.
This year, the Wildcats could very easily have two or more of their four big specialists have All-Big Ten-type seasons. As stated previously, if they can get some big plays out of special teams in that first half of the schedule against opponents like Purdue, Duke, Michigan, Michigan State and/or Nebraska, it would provide a lot of positive momentum to a team that hopes to compete for the Big Ten West.
Position breakdown
Long Snapper
Long-snapper is a position that NU has taken a lot of pride in over the years. Redshirt sophomore Tyler Gillikin (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) won the job during camp last season as a walk-on and elicited a lot of praise from Fitzgerald during his initial campaign. Gillikin was solid, perfecting all 127 snaps he was called to make on punts and placekicks. He even earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors following the Wisconsin game. He works hard at his craft and understands his place and value. Gillikin also adds a sound tackler on the field. He was an all-state captain on a state championship team at Atlanta (Ga.) Westminster High School, totaling 82 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 23 TFLs, 5 PBUs and 2 FF as a linebacker during his senior season. In a game where details matter, the Cats are sound at the spot that initiates all offensive specialties.
Redshirt first-year Peter Snodgrass (6-foot, 208 pounds) will man the backup role.
Placekicker
Sophomore Charlie Kuhbander (6-foot, 188 pounds) had the most successful season for any Northwestern first-year kicker, going 13-for-16 (81.3%), which was 31st nationally. His best performance came in a 13-point game at Maryland, which included three FGs and earned him conference player of the week honors. He also knocked in a trio of three-pointers against Purdue and connected on FGs in five straight games.
Kuhbander’s season-long was only 40 yards, but this was because the coaching staff limited his attempts, and for good reason. A first-year kicker’s psyche can be fragile, and remember that Kuhbander missed the very first attempt of his career, a chip-shot 21-yarder. Judging by the outcome – a 10-win season – Fitzgerald made the wise decision.
“Koobs” was 43-of-44 in kicking extra points, with his only blemish coming from a block late in the year. Starting high school as a successful soccer player who had to be convinced to kick for the football team, he came to Northwestern with relatively high billing, ranked as the No. 3 kicking recruit by Kohl’s Kicking Academy. He currently holds the high school record in the state of Ohio for career kicking points (305), notching a total of 36 career FGs.
Expect Fitzgerald to take the harness off a bit this year, allowing Kuhbander to extend his range. Though his career long is 45 yards (in high school), Kuhbander is known for his viral video of kicking a 60-yard FG while blindfolded, and he is on record for hitting from 68 in practice. The leg is there. Genyk’s specialty has been with kickers, especially those with inherent talent, so expect Kuhbander to emerge as a potent weapon in 2018. We see a lot of NU great Jeff Budzien in this rising sophomore. When he is called to duty, count on Kuhbander to consistently deliver.
Drew Luckenbaugh and Cody Gronewold provide depth.
Punter/Punt Coverage
Northwestern, for better or for worse, has had a rich history at punter – J.J. Standring, John Kidd and Paul Burton to name a few – and they graduate one of their best in Niswander. A three-year starter, Niswander was adept at directional kicks, helping limit opposing yardage.
NU’s punt success rate was up last year from 50.7% (94th nationally) to 61.8% (45th), meaning they set their defense up with advantageous field position. They ranked third in the conference in punting, which was helped by Niswander’s foot, but it also speaks to the coverage team, which helped keep the net-punt totals noteworthy.
Incoming senior grad transfer Jake Collins (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) is a rugby-style punter from Western Kentucky. Last year he averaged 40.1 yards per punt (ypp), with seven punts of 50-plus yards (long of 62), and 15 punts fair caught, 19 of them inside the 20. He also hasn’t had any punts blocked. This three-time Ray Guy Nominee for the nation’s top punter has averaged more than 41 ypp over his three years at WKU, specializing at pinning opponents near their own goal line.
Other punters include senior Daniel Kubiuk (6-foot-1, 213 pounds), who had two punts last year for a 36-yard average (long of 45), and redshirt first-year Cody Gronewold (6-foot-1, 180 pounds), who was highly rated by the Kohl’s Kicking Academy after a solid senior year as both a kicker and punter.
In terms of coverage, look for second-team DBs and WRs/RBs, such as Alonzo Mayo, Roderick Campbell, Jesse Brown and maybe Chee Anyanwu, among others, to team up in corralling opposing returners. The focus under Fitzgerald in the punt game has consistently been to hang a kick high and allow your coverage team to run down and force the return man into making a fair catch, nullifying a return.
Kick Return
This was a major area of concern last season. When the news hit of senior Solomon Vault (5-foot-10, 196 pounds) being lost for the year, the numbers were expected to drop from their 29th KR success rating in 2016 (51.7 percent). However, a fall to 124th (28 percent success rate, 10th in the Big Ten) in the country was more than alarming. Nobody seemed comfortable in the role and they were slow to get going on many returns, running with a slight hesitancy that Northwestern has not seen in the past few seasons.
Getting their star back, along with the addition of Genyk as a full-time coordinator, should vault (pun intended) the Cats back up near the upper half of the Big Ten, and nationally, in kick-off return yards.
Vault was a third-team All-Big Ten KR for two straight years. His three career KR for TDs are the most in NU history and, more impressive, all three were game-changing TDs (Duke and Penn State in 2015, and Michigan State in 2016). He ranks in the top four in NU KR history statistics in all but one category, in which he is 7th.
His return-mate back deep will be open for competition. Though Lees led the team in KR yards last year (20.4 average on 11 opportunities) and John Moten also returned kicks (16.8 average), expect them both to see less time in the return game with their offensive roles expected to increase this season.
Senior Jelani Roberts (5-foot-8, 173 pounds) is the only other player on the roster to field a kick in a Wildcat uniform, and that was three years ago during his freshman season (one for 19 yards). However, his top-end track speed and diminutive height make him the perfect complement to Vault back deep. He returned a couple kicks to the house at the prep level and the two Maryland natives seem to have a special bond which could give opposing kickers troubles.
Look for redshirt sophomore Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (6-foot-2, 202 pounds) to also get an opportunity, as he was a pretty effective return man in high school. Jalen Brown (6-foot-1, 213 pounds) is also a possibility, though maybe less so after suffering a season-ending injury last season.
Punt Return
Redshirt sophomore Lees (6-foot, 206 pounds) should give the Wildcats a reputable threat on a defensive fourth down. Lees carried a 9.8 yards-per-return (ypr) average on just eight returns. He also made 11 fair catches (FC) with only one muff, which he recovered. He had (officially) a long of 39 yards against Purdue, but it should have been a touchdown had it not been for a questionable personal-foul penalty against a teammate near the sideline.
Overall, this return unit was up from 105th in PR success rate (40 percent) in 2016 to 91st last season (38.5 percent), which was sixth-best in the Big Ten. When given space and an opportunity to field the ball, Lees can be dangerous and we expect his numbers to improve this year with a specific coach and the application of more athletes.
Flynn Nagel (5-foot-11, 194 pounds) handled punts the past two seasons but had some struggles early on last year, and with the pleasant emergence of Lees, he was taken out of that role. He has the hands and athleticism for the position (see Iowa in 2016), but as a key part of the offensive aerial attack, it will be wise to keep him on that side.
Chiaokhiao-Bowman, Brown and perhaps even Vault would provide ample backups if the situation dictates.
Kickoffs/Kickoff Coverage
Northwestern’s kickoff coverage was down from 80th nationally (69.2-percent success rate) in 2016 to 116th last year (58.8 percent), putting them at 10th in the conference. To help this, they will need to rely on a kickoff specialist who can consistently put the ball into the endzone. They enter 2018 with two new candidates.
Redshirt sophomore Drew Luckenbaugh (6-foot-1, 205 pounds) was a preferred walkon who notched 23 touchbacks on kickoffs his senior year. It will be seen if Luckenbaugh can transfer his skills to the Big Ten, but many of his kickoffs on film traveled beyond 65 yards, which would be just into the endzone at the collegiate level.
The other option is punter Collins, who kicked off at times for the Hilltoppers in his previous three seasons. This should only be by necessity, as Fitzgerald likes to have a focused player at each kicking spot, if he can afford it.
With more teams finding ways to get positive returns, if you don’t have a booming kickoff specialist the pressure increases on the coverage team. But then, that puts coaches into quite a predicament: “Do I play my younger guys, who may not be quite ready yet, or do I put my best athletes out there, at the risk of getting hurt and losing them in multiple spots?”
Fitzgerald has experienced his share of injuries to his roster (especially in the last five years), and tends to go with his No. 2 LBs and SAFs, plus a couple of speedsters. So expect to see guys like Nate Fox, Jango Glackin, Chris Bergin and perhaps Khalid Jones (or a cast of first-years, making use of the new four-game redshirt rule) running down on coverage, along with guys like Travis Whillock, Bryce Jackson, Joe Bergin and Austin Hiller for tackling, and Jesse Brown and maybe first-year A.J. Hampton (whose dad Alonzo is the special teams coach at Florida State) flying down to contain.
An additional note: There is a new kickoff rule that allows a receiving team to make a fair catch inside the 25-yard line and get the ball marked at the 25, much like a touchback. It will be interesting to see how that comes into play for both the kickoff and kick-return strategies.
Placeholder
As solid as the long-snapping has been at NU the past few seasons, the success of the placekicking game is more dependent on the placement of the ball from its placeholder. Our expectation is for senior backup punter Kubiuk (who is a former QB and NU baseball pitcher) to get the opportunity to secure this position. Not only does he have steady hands, but he also makes for an interesting option in the game of special teams “trickeration”. And we know that Fitzgerald and his staff likes to tinker with these options.
The other possibility is Collins, who has experience as the placeholder at WKU the past couple years. This will likely be decided and reported the week of the opener at Purdue.
Other 2018 Position Previews:
Offense
Defense
Tim Chapman is a teacher and former Michigan high school football coach who is currently working on a book titled "ChampioN Underdog" about the 1995 Northwestern Rose Bowl team. Follow him on Twitter: @Champion_Lit.
