Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ready,��� Kelly said. Notre Dame averaged 2.19 yards per return last season, more than six yards fewer than the median average among Football Bowl Subdivision schools and more than a yard worse than the 2011 season. The Irish could have had 140 extra yards of field position in the fall had they fielded an average punt return team, and that���s before taking into account misjudged kicks that hit the turf and took friendly bounces for their opponents. Freshman Davonte��� Neal was Kelly���s answer when he arrived in August. He returned 21 kicks while riding a steep learning curve for a total of 46 yards. Neal suffered his share of rookie mistakes, including a bumble during the BCS National Championship Game. Even before Neal arrived on campus last spring, Booker warned that a poor punt return was a reDavonte��� Neal managed just 46 yards on 21 flection on the 10 players in front of the returner punt returns (2.19 yards per attempt) during his as much as the man standing alone behind them. freshman campaign. And that, eventually, is where most of the blame fell photo by bill panzica following a 12-0 regular season when diagnosing the only part of the team that seemed immune to the steady march toward progress under Kelly���s staff. ���We had a problem this year in that we just didn���t have much depth in the secondary, so not many of those guys were involved in specials teams,��� safeties coach Bob Elliott said in December. ���When you don���t have a lot of defensive backs on your special teams, that���s not a good situation. Next year we���ll have all those guys available. That���s going to help us.��� Notre Dame���s paper-thin secondary proved to be as sturdy as the duct tape that was used to patch it together. But that lack of depth trickled down to special teams units that couldn���t seem to fill the field with players with the right combination of speed and physicality. That depth will get a significant boost in the coming season. Will results on the field finally follow? ��� Dan Murphy Year 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 Kelly���s Average 2.19 3.69 5.35 13.0 9.51 8.24 5.33 10.77 12.69 Punt Returns Average FBS Ranking 116 112 100 18 49 68 107 38 22 Median Average 8.80 8.26 8.18 8.77 8.92 8.83 8.54 9.07 9.35 ND Avg. 2.19 3.69 5.35 12.89 8.92 9.12 7.35 14.14 10.85