2003 Football Preview: Special Teams
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 8/26/03

We wrap up our position-by-position preview of the 2003 season with an area of the team that has become surprisingly shaky in recent years: special teams. And as game 1 against UCF approaches, there are still some big question marks among Virginia Tech's famed special teams units.

The Hokies are still good kick-blockers (7 last year) and punt returners (2 TD's last year), but the other phases of their special teams have been a disappointment the last two seasons. In 2001, the Hokies gave up a punt return for a TD and a blocked punt in a 22-14 home loss to Syracuse, and later that year, in the Gator Bowl, FSU blocked a punt deep in Tech territory and converted it to a touchdown.

Last season, two missed field goals at Syracuse, one in regulation and one in overtime, contributed to a Hokie loss, and against Boston College, VT gave up 279 kick return yards, including an 83-yard punt return for a TD.

On the upside, VT's special teams were fierce against LSU, Marshall, Pitt, and Miami, and DeAngelo Hall returned two punts for touchdowns last year.

But there's work to be done here, and if the Hokies want to contend for the Big East championship, they'll need their special teams units to step up and perform better and more consistently. Unfortunately, one of the most important special teams elements -- placekicker -- has been anything but consistent this fall.

The Depth Chart

The depth chart below represents the latest depth chart released on BeamerBall.com on August 25th. The two-deep in the chart is color-coded by class, and returning starters are listed in bold italics.

Placekicker

Starter: 49 Carter Warley (5-11, 198, r-Sr)
Backup: 46 Brandon Pace (5-11, 189, r-Jr)

As a redshirt freshman in 2000, Carter Warley got off to a good start. He was 7-of-9 on field goals, including a game-winning 27-yarder against Pittsburgh, and he was named second-team All-Big East. His future looked bright.

But the following year, he slipped to just 11-of-21 on field goal attempts, and in 2002, he battled back problems on his way to a 9-of-15 year. Warley hit his low point when he missed four games due to back pain, then returned against Syracuse, only to miss a 46-yard field goal that would have won the game in regulation and a 35-yarder that would have won it in the first overtime.

While Warley was out, Jon Mollerup and true freshman Nic Schmitt filled in, and they had a rough time, going just 3-of-8 in Warley's absence. This made the VT kickers 12-of-23 overall on field goals for the season, their second straight year around 50%. They were a dismal 3-of-10 from 40 yards and out in 2002.

Warley's back is better, but his performance so far this fall isn't. Each day, Warley, Schmitt, Brandon Pace, and walk-ons Jud Dunlevy and John Hedge have placekicking competitions, and none of them have emerged as VT's clear leader at the placekicking position.

Pace won three of the first four competitions, then tailed off; Schmitt was announced as a redshirt for this year, but the party line now is, "Not so fast, that book isn't closed yet." He currently isn't slated to dress for the UCF game, but if Pace and Warley have a bad week in practice, that could change.

Early this week, Coach Beamer named Warley the #1 placekicker heading into the UCF game, but that came with a notification that it could change, and probably will. That's no way to be heading into the first game, but there you have it. Hokie fans can only hope that when the lights go on, one of the placekickers, hopefully Warley, will step up and take control of the job, because along with the offensive line, the placekicker position is the biggest trouble spot on this team.

Punter

Starter:  38 Vinnie Burns (5-10, 199, r-Jr)
Backup:  89 Bobby Peaslee (6-0, 202, r-Sr)

Vinnie Burns has the distinction of being the most highly-hyped punter to ever sign at VT, at least during the Beamer era. One reason is his blazingly-fast (particularly for a punter) 40 time, and once he reported to Tech, Burns didn't disappoint, running a 4.35 in 2001.

But punters get paid to punt (okay, college punters don't, but you get my point), and Vinnie Burns has been inconsistent in that area. He'll crush an "ooh, aah" 60-yarder and follow it up with something relatively short and weak. He is gradually improving, though, increasing his 37.6 yard average as a redshirt freshman in 2001 to 40.5 in 2002. That was good enough for third in the conference and second-team All-Big East in 2002, and the Hokies are looking for him to continue to improve, be more consistent, and take first-team honors in 2003.

Burns also needs to continue to improve his delivery speed. Coach Beamer has made comments through the years that indicate that he wants Burns to get his kicks off quicker. But there's no question here that Vinnie Burns is Tech's #1 punter, and he has the chance to have two very good seasons this year and next.

While Burns was redshirting in 2000, Bobby Peaslee, who goes by Robert now, handled the punting duties and averaged just 35.3 yards per punt. He, too, was inconsistent -- he was just a redshirt-freshman -- and Burns had more upside, so that's why Vinnie took over the punting duties in 2001. But should something happen to Burns, it's good to have an experienced backup in Peaslee.

Kickoffs

Starter: 46 Brandon Pace (5-11, 189, r-Jr)
Backup: 49 Carter Warley (5-11, 198, r-Sr)

One obvious way to limit the kickoff return yardage by the opponent is to kick the ball into the end zone (or through it). Last year's kickoff specialist, Jon Mollerup, was an adequate kickoff man, and the Hokies are hoping that Brandon Pace can be more consistent with kicking the ball deep enough so that opponents can't get good returns.

Last year, the Hokies gave up 20.5 yards per kickoff return, sixth in the Big East. Only Pittsburgh (20.9) and Rutgers (22.6) were worse in the conference.

Kick Returner

Starters: 32 Cedric Humes (6-1, 223, r-So.); 20 Mike Imoh (5-7, 185, So.)
Backup: 12 Richard Johnson (5-10, 189, r-Jr.)

VT finished 6th in the Big East last year with a 20.5 yards per kickoff return average, and Richard Johnson finished 68th in the nation with 21.09 yards per return. At one point, Virginia Tech was languishing near the bottom of the NCAA, and then Johnson ripped off a 91-yard return against Miami in VT's 13th game of the season. Without that return, Johnson's average was just 17.9 yards per return, which would have been the worst average for VT's primary kick returner since Jon Jeffries averaged 17.0 in 1991.

As mediocre as it was, VT's 20.5 yard return average was better than 2001 (19.9 ypr) and 2000 (18.9 ypr), and Johnson's 91-yard return was the longest since Tony Kennedy ran one back 91 yards for a TD in 1992. Johnson's 21.5 yard career average is comparable to other kickoff return men at VT, who have averaged 20.5 ypr (Marcus Mickel, 1988-91) to 24.8 ypr (Dickie Longerbeam, 1965-68).

But Johnson didn't show a lot of vision on his returns, and he wasn't hard to bring down, so the Hokies are trying something new this year. Coach Beamer often likes to use running backs as kick returners, and he currently has backup tailbacks Cedric Humes and Mike Imoh listed as co-first teamers. They're both unknowns, obviously, and they bring different things to the table. Humes is a big runner, while Imoh is more of a scatback with good acceleration and field vision.

Punt Returner

Starters: 4 DeAngelo Hall (5-11, 198, Jr.)
Backup: 12 Richard Johnson (5-10, 189, r-Jr.)

Here's a little bit of trivia for you: DeAngelo Hall is one of just three Virginia Tech players to return more than one punt for a TD in the same season. He had two for TD's last year, one against Arkansas State, and one against Rutgers (hey, DeAngelo, save it for Miami or Pitt, okay?).

The other two players to do that were Andre Davis (3 returned for TD's in 2000) and the great Frank Loria (3 in 1966).

Hall's 16.0 yards per return average (22 returns, 352 yards) was good enough for 7th in the NCAA last year, so the Hokies aren't worried about punt returns. They even have an experienced backup in Johnson, who returned 14 punts for 100 yards last year (7.1 per return).

Special Teams Summary

The Hokies are in good shape, possibly great shape, for punting and punt returns, and Brandon Pace shows great promise as a kickoff artist. The unknowns for the Hokies are kickoff returns, where they'll be breaking in some new guys, and placekicking, where they have no idea if they've got a kicker who will come through in the clutch.

As Tech sets its eyes on a Big East championship, they know that it could come down to a game-winning kick at least once, maybe more than that. They hope that they have better luck in that area than they had last year.

And with that, we're done with our position-by-position preview. And you know what that means: kickoff is just around the corner! In a mere five days, the Hokies tee it off against UCF to open the season. See you there!