Last in a series of three stories by Tim Chapman examining the questions facing Northwestern's offense, defense and special teams this spring. Spring practice has been cancelled, but these questions will still be relevant next fall.
Can we once again count on Charlie Kuhbander in the kicking game?
Kuhbander started off his Northwestern career by connecting on 81% of his 16 attempts as a true first-year placekicker.
The next season he dipped to 55%, though he was battling injury. He improved to 71% last year, but was still very inconsistent, and not completely healed. What was odd was that Kuhbander was perfect inside of 30 yards and beyond 40; but between 30 and 39 he was just 6 of 10.
In three years, Kuhbander's long has been 45 (44 last year), so it’s not as though he’s expected to bang them through from deep. But his accuracy from mid-range should be more consistent than 60%. He also missed a PAT late in the season, which almost seems inexplicable for a scholarship Division I football player.
Though Fitzgerald stuck with him the last two years and said Kuhbander was “his guy,” with “full confidence” in him, his conservative use of the field-goal specialist might suggest otherwise. A blunt Fitzgerald also remarked in his spring practice kickoff presser that the team needed to make their short field goals, and with the sting of last year’s outcome still swollen, Kuhbander will need to be more dependable if he wants to remain “the guy.”
When fully healthy, we’ve seen what good Kuhbander can do. He just needs to be reliable again.
Can kickoff specialist Trey Finison add a “defensive” weapon with more regular touchbacks?
Toward the end of last season, sophomore Trey Finison gave the Wildcats something they could really use -- someone who can threaten opposing kick-return units with “defensive” kickoffs. What we mean by that is his kick-offs traveled far enough, and with enough height, to allow his coverage unit to advance downfield and position themselves to deny any meaningful progress from the return team.
Finison averaged 58.7 yards per kick, with nine touchbacks on 33 kick-offs (27%). Due to the limited number of scoring drives last season, this was a relatively small sample size. But comparatively speaking, this is right up there with the best we’ve seen since Jack Mitchell in 2016 (61 ypk, 49% touchbacks). In 2018, Drew Luckenbaugh averaged just 54 yards per kickoff with 22% touchbacks, while Luke Otto averaged 58 ypk with 29% touchbacks the year before.
Finison seemed to get stronger toward the end of the season and did not put a single kickoff out of bounds, which was an improvement from some of his predecessors. In addition, NU’s kick coverage team limited opposing teams to just 20 yards per return so this could be a helpful weapon for a defense that’s set to return many key parts and primed for a resurgence in 2020.
What will Riley Lees’ role be in the return game this year?
Senior Riley Lees returns as a valuable part of the offensive passing game that needs to be able to drastically increase its production this year. He also serves as a potentially potent return man in the kick game.
The senior from Libertyville (Ill.) ranked 60th in the country with a 22 yards-per-return average last season. The most memorable burst was his 50-yard return (his long of the season), with attitude, against Nebraska. It was here that we saw Lees transform from a serviceable member of the offense to a leader of the special teams who brings a little bit of that Flynn Nagel "I love this stuff" attitude to the return game. With quick feet, good vision and team-first, body-second abandon, he could surely provide a shot in the arm for the offense before they come onto the field.
However, with the offense needing his services more than the return game, how much of a part will he play in returning kicks?
This also plays into a similar question we have of how aggressive will Fitzgerald and special teams coach Jeff Genyk be in their gameplan on returns this season. There are other potential returners to choose from (Berkeley Holman, Kyric McGowan, J.J. Jefferson and others), so with Lees’ importance on offense, both as an athlete and a leader, what will the pieces in the return game look like and will it be an upgrade from the past couple years of special teams stagnancy?
