2008--------- Special Teams

've been doing a series of posts on the state of the 2008 UMass football team. This post covers UMass Special Teams for 2008 and tries to guess what the coaching staff has in store for us.

Remember I have no special inside information.

Freshman are green.
Sophomores are orange
Juniors are blue
Senior are red

I'm working out of the UMass depth chart for the Hofstra game. Teams are only allowed to dress 60 players for the playoffs, so the depth chart for the playoffs may have been different. Note that the class of the player is for fall of 2008 not their current status.

According to the last regular season depth chart:

PK -- Open
------Armando Cuko Junior

P-----Brett Arnold Senior
------ Scott Woodward RedShirt Junior

LS--- Open
------ Bob McLaughlin RedShirt Sophomore

SS----Open
------ Open

KR----Courtney Robinson Senior
-------Reshaude Godwin Redshirt Sophomore

PR----Open
-------Sean Smalls Senior

DISCUSSION:

Chris Koepplin did all kickoffs except for one in 2007. He also did all the field goals. UMass was #1 in the CAA with 44.2 net kickoff average. UMass returns Armando Cuko who struggled in his first year in 2005. He does own one of the best ever field goals in UMass history as he kicked 41 yarder out of a mud hole to beat JMU. With only one kickoff and field goal kicker on the roster, we should see some action by Coach Brown before August.

Senior punter Brett Arnold (51-1931) lost his job late in the season after having three kicks blocked. Scott Woodward started in the SIU playoff game and went 5-185. UMass was 11th in the league in net punting average in 2007. Ryan Logan can also punt and may be in the mix for 2008.

Bob McLaughlin had a rough start to his long snapping career at William & Mary, but settled down and is probably in the lead to take over the job in 2008.

For Kick Returner, Robinson went 19-495 w/1 TD. Jeremy Horne was the second leading returner with 10-195 .

J.J. Moore had the entire load for punt returner in 2007. Smalls should take over here.