SCSU's special teams unit adapting to rule changes

Photo: South Carolina State special teams players, Kevin Colclough (bent over), Aaron Haire (holding) and Stephen Grantham practice field goals during practice Tuesday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. LARRY HARDY/T&D

By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer

If not for head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough’s presence on the NCAA football rules committee, one may assume the change made on the kickoff location came with South Carolina State in mind.

No Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) team had better kickoff coverage than the Bulldogs last season. On 52 kickoffs, SCSU’s special teams allowed a total of 702 yards for a miniscule, nation-leading, 13.51 yards per return and no scores allowed.

"We thought we were pretty good at it and the reason why is because we gave a variety of kicks in ways where people couldn’t quite settle into a return and know exactly how to return it," Pough said. "I think we’ll continue to do those kind of things."

Ironically, SCSU’s Sept. 1 season-opening opponent, Air Force, led all Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams in kickoff return coverage in allowing an even lower 13.35 yards per return.

According to special teams/defensive backs coach Mike Adams, a variety of factors went into the Bulldogs’ success covering kickoffs.

"We had a lot of young, aggressive guys that wanted on that team and did a good job of preparing against the teams we faced and knowing exactly where that ball was going to hit and how to work together and stay aggressive," Adams said. "Maybe above all else was we planned ... we have two different ways of kicking the ball down there and covering it and we worked each week of making sure when that ball hit, we had enough guys to surround and enough field guys to kind of fill in the lanes as they developed."

Among the different strategies employed by SCSU involved "skying". This kickoff method involved having the place-kicker "sky" the football high enough into the air that it allowed the coverage team time to run downfield to make the tackle.

Many of the "young, aggressive guys" on special teams were players Adams coached at defensive back like Terrance Allen, LaQuinn Ellerbe, Travance Jackson, Phillip Adams and Dez Benjamin. Linebacker Ryan Potts, running back Travil Jamison and wide receiver Dustin Dubose were also not timid about putting their bodies on the line on kickoff coverage.

This season, SCSU will have a little more ground to cover on kickoffs. Among the new rule changes recommended by the rules committee and approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel is the moving of kickoffs from the 35-yard line to the 30-yard line.

Coaches like Hampton’s Joe Taylor have stated publicly they believe the new rule will result in more kickoff returns for touchdowns. In fact, SCSU and Hampton were the lone Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference teams to have a player return a kickoff for a score. Will Ford accomplished the honors for the Bulldogs with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Coastal Carolina.

Although the change would appear to most affect SCSU, Pough remains in favor of it.

"I think it’s a fun rule," he said. "I’m an offensive guy so to speak and I enjoy seeing things happen that gives the game a possibility of having more scoring."

Pough added he does not see the rule change making much of a difference for SCSU - save for "skying" the ball

"We didn’t kick the ball off into the endzone when the ball was at the 35-yard-line," Pough said. "So it’s pretty obvious that we won’t kick it off in the end zone when it’s on the 30-yard-line."

The return of place-kicker Stephen Grantham, who recorded four touchbacks and averaged 52.5 yards per kickoff as a freshman in 2005, could prove otherwise. Coupling Grantham’s strong leg with the addition of speedy newcomers like Rafael Bush and linebacker Antwann Gamble to the special teams unit could also help minimize the effect of the rules change for SCSU, according to Adams.

"It’s a tremendous advantage," the coach said of Grantham. "He’s a guy that hopefully as he gets more comfortable with our kickoff system, he can place the ball in a couple of spots that we’re trying to put it each day and he’s done a pretty good job with that so far in camp. We certainly want him to increase his leg strength so we can keep pushing the ball even further back. He’s done a pretty good job of placing the ball in camp and I think we can adjust to him."

Despite practicing in torrid temperatures which have made this year’s training camp the most "physically demanding" he’s ever been involved with, Adams believes the Bulldogs are ready to match last year’s kickoff coverage success.

SCSU players will have the day off today and resume practice Thursday.

OTHER RULE CHANGES

The clock will start on the snap after a change in possession instead of when the referee signals the ball ready for play.

The clock will start on kickoffs only when the ball is legally touched in the field of play.

The play clock will be limited to 15 seconds for televised games following commercial time-outs.

Charged team time-outs will be limited to 30 seconds plus the 25-second game clock for televised games.