When thinking about Marshall’s football team so far this
season, it’s easy to take for granted the work of the special teams unit.
Marshall’s special teams unit has been just that this
season: special. It’s been a constant with
a team that has had continuity issues this season.
Whether it’s the kickoff team, the punt team or the field
goal team, the Herd’s special teams unit has had continuous success for the team
so far this season.
Marshall’s redshirt sophomore kickoff specialist Amoreto
Curraj took over the kickoff duties for the Herd in his freshman season in 2013
and immediately had success. Curraj
finished the 2013 season with 52 touchbacks, which was fourth nationally and a
Marshall record.
To put that in perspective, Marshall’s football program
only had 26 touchbacks from 2007-2012.
Curraj redshirted in 2014 due to back and groin injuries, but since
returning in 2015, he has picked up where he left off.
Through seven games this season, Curraj has recorded 25
touchbacks. And Marshall’s kickoff
coverage team has limited the opposition to just 17.5 yards per kick return,
which is good for fifteenth nationally.
The Herd’s kickoff return game has been led by senior wide
receiver Deandre Reaves and Reaves has become one of the best kick returners in
Marshall history over his career.
Reaves has set the school record for single-season return
yards in each of the last two years, with 924 return yards in 2013 and 931
return yards in 2014.
He
currently has 2,206 career kick return yards, which has broken Ray Crisp’s
previous school record of 1,966 yards from 1975-1978. The Herd’s kick return unit as a whole is
eight nationally, averaging 27.8 yards per kick return.
Senior
punter Tyler Williams has been among the best punters in Marshall history since
his freshman season in 2012. Williams
currently averages 44.1 yards per punt over the course of his career, and if
that holds up, it would break Pat Velarde’s career school record of 43.4 yards
per punt set from 1982-1983.
Since 2012, Williams has had 55 punts of 50 or more yards
and 12 punts of 60 or more yards. So far
in 2015, he has 22 punts downed inside the 20-yard line, which ranks first nationally.
Williams’ stellar play led him to be named a captain for
the Herd’s most recent game against Florida Atlantic University, becoming the
first Marshall player under head coach Doc Holliday to be named a captain.
“He’s (Williams) such a great kid that works extremely
hard,” Holliday said in his weekly press conference on Oct. 13. “He’ll play a long time if he’s got that kind
of ability, which I think he does.”
Sophomore Nick Smith earned the job of starting field
goal kicker in fall camp and so far this season, he has literally been
perfect. Smith has connected on all
eight of his field goal attempts and all 27 of his extra point attempts, making
him 35 of 35 on all kicks.
Only
four kickers in the FBS have made more kicks without missing than Smith so far
this season. The Herd has made 130
straight extra points dating back to Nov. 2, 2013 and 15 straight field goals
dating back to Nov. 22, 2014.
Holliday
said the special teams’ ability in the field position battle has helped out his
team. “That’s what special teams is all
about,” Holliday said Tuesday. “It’s
about flipping the field position, it’s about creating field position and
that’s the one thing we’ve been able to do because of our kickoff with Curraj,
because of our punt with Tyler (Williams) and because of our kickoff return
with Reaves and that unit.”
“We’ve
been able to win that battle with field position and that’s helped our offense
because we’ve struggled a little bit on offense, but we’ve been able to manage
because of the field position we’ve gained because of our special teams.”
The
Herd’s special teams unit has been so good this season, you can make the case
that it alone won the team a game.
Without Reaves’ 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Kent
State in Week 4, does the Herd muster enough strength to send the game to
overtime?
Marshall’s
offense struggled against the Golden Flashes, and without Reaves’ kickoff
return, Marshall would not have had the 22 points needed to send the game to
overtime. The Herd won the game 36-29 in double overtime thanks in large part
because of Reaves and the kickoff return unit.
Marshall’s
special teams unit looks to continue to be special Saturday against the North
Texas Mean Green for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff from Joan C. Edwards Stadium for
homecoming.
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