The eighth and final installment in a series of Northwestern position-by-position breakdowns going into the 2020 season.

OFFENSE: Quarterbacks l Running backs l Receivers l Offensive line

DEFENSE: Defensive Line l Linebackers l Defensive Backs

Jeff Genyk is now in the third year of his second stint as special teams coordinator for Northwestern, and for the most part things have been steady, though arguably, not that special.

One of the nicer guys you’ll meet, with over 25 years of college coaching experience, Genyk certainly brings knowledge, but the on-field product has to show some improvement.

Genyk’s squad has always been a solid coverage crew, finishing in the top-third in the nation in both kickoff and punt coverage, not allowing a return for a touchdown, or any big returns, really. Pat Fitzgerald-coached teams have always been good in punt coverage, as five of the last eight years they finished in the Top 33 in punt return defense, and reaching the Top 20 in four of them. Their net punting in 2018 was praise-worthy, though it took a bit of a dip last year. We’ll chalk that up to parts and circumstance, though, rather than process.

It’s been Northwestern’s own return game and kicking, however, that’s been mediocre. True, they’ve been consistent, but not always in a good way. PK Charlie Kuhbander put up respectable numbers – holistically – a last season, but because all of his misses were from 30-39 yards, it was hard to know what you were going to get when he trotted across the white lines.

Since 2006, NU has only had three kickers top 80% on field goal tries. Sure, Kuhbander was one of them, but that was three years ago, and in a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” world, the results need to revert.

Many great teams are able to generate a spark with their special teams, primarily in the return game, and Northwestern just hasn’t had that in a few years. Do they have the pieces to bring it back in 2020?

Let’s find out.

Though they don’t want to think about punting, when they do, the Cats will field one of the best punt units in the Big Ten. They bring back a lot of the pieces on their punt team that limited opponents to a 2.8-yard average on punt returns, which was 9th-best in the country. This includes coverage stars Raymond Niro, Cameron Ruiz and Alonzo Hampton, as well as Tyler Gillikin, who’s been perfect on all but one snap in his three-year career as a starting long snapper on both punts and placekicks.

Adding strength to strength this year will be former All-MAC punter Derek Adams, who grad-transfers in from Kent State, bringing his 40.7 average with him.

Riley Lees was third in the Big Ten in punt returns last season, averaging almost 7.5 per takeback. In fact, all three punt returners (Lees, JJ Jefferson and Berkeley Holman) averaged over 7 yards per return, so this gives the Cats some viable options to help set up their oncoming offense.

Kickoff specialist Trey Finison, was a breath of fresh air in the kickoff game last year, as he averaged 59 yards per kick and no kicks out of bounds. He even executed a successful onside kick. His leg helped the Cats enjoy success in kickoff coverage, finishing 33rd in the nation in efficiency (20 yards-per-return), according to Football Outsiders.

Punting, which has not been a problem for the Wildcats in recent years, was an area of statistical weakness last season. They were spoiled by Hunter Niswander and Jake Collins, who averaged over 40 yards per punt for the three previous years. Last year, the tandem of Daniel Kubiuk and Andrew David struggled to a lackluster 37-yard average last season, which hung them at 109th in the nation.

It’s not as though they didn’t have the opportunity or the practice – only 12 teams punted more often than Northwestern’s six per game, and none of those teams had a winning record. Even though their coverage was stellar, these numbers only ranked the Wildcats near the middle of the pack in punting efficiency, according to Football Outsiders.

Placekicking has to be more reliable. Kuhbander was only at 71% FG accuracy last season (77th in the country), and two of his four misses came with an opportunity to give Northwestern the lead, late in winnable games. He’s struggled through injury the last couple years, but if he cannot prove to be dependable this season, it might be time to give Finison a shot.

We may be getting greedy here, but it’d be nice to see an electric score in the return game. The Cats haven’t had a kickoff or punt return touchdown since Solomon Vault took a kick to the house in 2016. They’ve typically played the safe, “analytics” game the past few years (which resulted in 19 wins and a Big Ten West crown from ’17-’18), but a big runback would add a whole new dimension to NU’s weaponry.

Fitzgerald stresses security and practicality in this third of the game, often utilizing the fair-catch option and playing the odds over taking a risk. And overall, it seems to have worked, as they finished 34th in ESPN’s Special Teams Efficiency Ratings last season.

This could be one of the top punt teams in the nation, if Adams keeps true to his average and the Wildcat cover team continues to tarp the opposing returners. The same can be said about the kickoff team as they’ve earned a top 55 rating in each of the last three seasons.

Still, special teams cost Northwestern two games last year, as last second field goals by Nebraska and Purdue beat the Wildcats, not long after NU missed on their own three-point tries. That was the difference between a 3-9 and a 5-7 record, which, believe it or not, makes the season look entirely different.

If Kuhbander’s recruited talent comes to fruition, that can pay big dividends and provide assurance for an offense that, quite frankly, comes in with some battered confidence after last season.

The return game should be sound, but who knows, maybe they’ll get a dash of flash in 2020.

Senior PK Charlie Kuhbander (6-foot, 185 pounds) came to Evanston as a highly rated kicker out of high school, but his success has been sporadic. Last season he connected on 10-of-14 FGs (71%) and 17-of-18 PATs. The problem was that all of his misses came from the 30-39-yard range, seemingly the easiest set to make.

Reliability was also in question, as he had those two crucial misses from short-range against Nebraska (34 yards) and Purdue (32), as well as an ill-timed one in the opener at Stanford. His career-long is 45, so the short- to mid-range should be in his wheelhouse. He’s missed a few PATs in his career, though he’s never had a FG blocked, so it’s hard to comprehend the complications. We’re hoping his senior send-off will be with a boom.

For the third straight season, the Wildcats will turn to a grad-transfer punter. This time it’s senior P-PH Derek Adams (6-foot, 197 pounds) from Kent State. A three-year starter and two-time All-MAC punter, he averaged 43.1 yards per punt last season, placing one-third of his 59 hangers inside the 20. He was also the placeholder for MAC Special Teams Player of the Year, PK Matthew Trickett, so expect him to fill the same role for the Cats.

Sophomore kickoff specialist Trey Finison (5-foot-9, 170 pounds) was a bright spot as a first-year boomer. He averaged 59 yards per kickoff, with nine touchbacks (27% TB rate), and none of his kicks went out of bounds. Hopefully he can continue to be a special-teams strength for the next three years. He’s also the backup placekicker, so if Kuhbander happens to struggle, it might not be out of the question to see Finison move into a role he’ll likely fill in 2021 as the full-time placekicker. He was 8 of 10 in FGs his senior year of high school, with his only two misses coming beyond 50 yards, and made all of his PATs.

The steady veteran of the crew is senior LS Tyler Gillikin (6-foot-2, 217 pounds), who’s only made one bad snap in 370 passes between the legs (99.7% success rate). Named to the Mannelly Award watch list for the nation’s top long snapper, Gillikin has elicited praise from Fitzgerald every season, and for very good reason. In fact, we might make the hunch that ole “Gilly” could very well don the coveted No. 1 jersey this year.

In the return game, senior PR/KR Riley Lees (6-foot, 201 pounds) has solid hands and always seems to be moving forward to make positive yardage. Twice the Special Teams Player of the Week last season (POW), he averaged 22 yards per kick return, and 7.4 yards a touch on 16 punt returns. In his career, he’s averaged almost 7 yards per PR, and gives the Cats a respectable weapon back deep.

It should be noted that junior PR JJ Jefferson (5-foot-10, 170 pounds) averaged 13 per return on three bring-backs, with a long of 19, so he was consistent in his work. If the offensive coaches want to conserve Lees for offense, we might see “Triple J” running back more kicks and punts this year.

Other return men could include senior KR Kyric McGowan (5-foot-10, 200 pounds) and junior KR/PR Berkeley Holman (5-foot-11, 193 pounds). McGowan averaged 20 yards on just two kick returns, but was a 100-meter track guy in high school and could provide some of that flash we spoke of. He also made some aggressive plays downfield on kick coverage for the Cats, giving them speed to help collapse the return lanes. Holman brought back one kickoff for 18 yards and has solid hands to field punts, if needed. He had a 99-yard KR in high school and might be an untapped dynamo on returns.

Junior P Cody Gronewold (6-foot-1, 183 pounds) was ranked as one of the nation’s better high school punters, according to Kohl’s Kicking analysts. He has yet to punt in a college game and will likely only see action in a blowout in either direction this year. The same can be said about sophomore P Jake Genyk (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), son of the position coach.

Junior reserve LS Peter Snodgrass (6-foot, 215 pounds) was ranked as the 50th-best long snapper in his class, according to the Rubio Long Snapping analytics. He can get the ball back to the punter at a speed of around .8 seconds but might be pushed by a more-heralded, first-year snapper (see below).

Sophomore Raymond Niro III (5-foot-10, 183 pounds) and junior Cameron Ruiz (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) are the studs of the coverage units. Niro was typically the first man downfield on both punt and kick coverage, making three tackles and recovering a punt. The former walkon earned his scholarship midway through last season, due in large part to his special teams prowess. Ruiz has blocked a punt in his career and made several special teams tackles or closures in the last two years.

Sophomore A.J. Hampton (5-foot-11, 180 pounds) is another weapon. A gunner on the punt coverage unit whose dad was a college special teams coach, Hampton has proven speed and sound tackling (80% solo tackle rate).

Senior LBs Chris Bergin (5-foot-11, 215 pounds) and Erik Mueller (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) have played on the kickoff and punt/FG defense the last couple seasons and bring experience and toughness to those units. Junior SAF Bryce Jackson (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) and redshirt first-year SAF Coco Azema (5-foot-11, 185 pounds) also served well on coverage units, making a handful of tackles, with Azema also causing a fumble.

One who should get more time on the downfield teams is redshirt first-year Bryce Gallagher (6-foot-2, 220 pounds). Last year, the younger “Gally” was the Special Teams POW once, and twice more the ST practice POW. A heavy tackler with good field vision, look for him to sharpen his horns on special teams as he preps for reps on defense.

Speaking of honors, fellow redshirt first-year WR Preston Bacon (6-foot-2, 195 pounds) was also twice the ST practice POW, and his speed may land him on the game-day units this year.

We couldn’t leave out the importance of senior Joe Spivak (6-foot, 290 pounds) as a personal protector on the punt team. Not only does he provide a big body to shield the new punter, but he’s one of the best bouncers of the brigade. He’s another we may see earn the No. 1 jersey this year.

The only newby (aside from Adams) is preferred walkon LS William Halkyard (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) from Glenn Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard West. He’s a five-star long-snapper, ranked fourth-best in his class, according to Rubio Long Snapping. He “rips” the ball back to the punter in an impressive .72 seconds and moves well downfield to cover punts. He’ll likely take the place of Gillikin after he graduates this season.

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 via Twitter: @Champion_Lit. Email him at nufbhistorian@gmail.com.