The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 125 SPECIAL TEAMS don't want to put all of that on one player, but special teams assistant Jay Harbaugh didn't rule it out in the spring. "Kenny's very good and he has a very good sense of what he can handle physically, and he's not going to wear himself out so he can certainly do it all," Harbaugh said. "Ideally, you'd have a different person for everything … if he happens to be the best guy at each spot, we're good with that. "But there's a long ways to go. That's one position where you can really develop in the offseason, more so than some other spots." Allen indicated he's trying to take a wise approach to the summer. He knows he has the leg. He put up a video on Twitter of himself unleashing a 75-yard punt and nail- ing a 60-yard field goal at Fenton. He indicated in the "Sports In The Mit- ten" podcast during May that he's not look- ing to overdo it in the summer months. Whereas he once tried to kick as much as possible in the weeks leading up to fall camp, he's dialing it back. "You only have one hip flexor," he said. "I don't want to damage it or hurt my ham- string or something." Overall, Allen sees the Wolverines work- ing extremely hard in preparation for the season, motivated by what they all see as a potentially special year. "Right now, we have a little bit of a break before heading into sum- mer conditioning … but you'll walk through the building and you'll just see guys in there on their own time, working their butts off just trying to stay sharp — you know, to have an advantage going into summer workouts," Allen said. "It's something I've never really seen before. Guys are just motivated by what we did last year. They want to push it a little harder so we're even better next year. "It's awesome to see guys working on their own time, and it's something you have to do if you want to be the best." Assistant coach Chris Partridge, who is heading up Michigan's special teams this year, noted that Allen can handle all three kicking phases, but nothing will be decided until fall camp. "If he can do it all, that's awesome, and that's how we want to train him," Partridge said. "That's just going to make him better in the future, as he moves on and plays football at the next level. "If another guy steps up and is able to take one of the phases off of him, that's awesome too. Competition is good. Kenny, having the experience and having a great year last year, has the confidence in wanting to be the guy in every phase. "That's great. We're not going to hold him down on that. We're going to let him compete and try to win it." Allen will certainly be among the best kickers in the Big Ten, if not the nation. An incoming kicker could ease his burden in at least one of those three main kicking areas, making sure he doesn't wear down. The No. 1 prep kicker in the nation just happened to reside in Rockford, Mich., and signed on with the Wolverines last February. Quinn Nordin averaged 53.3 yards per punt in high school and former Wolverine kicker Brandon Kornblue, who founded Kornblue Kicking and has helped train Nordin, put up a twitter video of Nordin booting a 74-yard kickoff with a hang time of 4.35 seconds. Kornblue puts together a Fab 50 list of kickers, and Nordin came out on top of the kickers and No. 2 among the punters. "He's got a heck of a leg," Partridge said. "We want competition. We want him to come in and challenge. He's going to have every op- portunity to come in and win those jobs, and be the guy." Nordin insisted he'll handle any duties Michigan offers up. He'll have fall camp to show he's ready to take some of the responsibility off Allen's shoulders, and the kicking competition could be fierce. Meanwhile, another former elite prep kicker will be looking to toss his helmet into the ring. Redshirt freshman Andrew David once blasted a 58-yard field goal in high school, but struggled with consistency upon arriving at Michigan and has not seen the field. The competition only figures to grow more intense, and David knows he'll have to show plenty to keep up. "Quinn will have a shot at all three [kick- ing phases]," Partridge said. "Andrew is not a punter. He's a field goal kicker and kickoff guy." Long snapper Scott Sypniewski, a red- shirt junior, should again handle the de- livery to whoever happens to be punting, although redshirt sophomore Andrew Rob- inson is pushing him. Redshirt junior quar- terback Garrett Moores came out of spring ball leading a large pack of potential hold- ers on field goals. The protection on punts — a topic that came to light at the horrifying end of last year's Michigan State game — will vary this year, Harbaugh noted. Michigan used a shield protection deployment last season under John Baxter, who coached in Ann Arbor one year before heading back to the West Coast. Partridge and Harbaugh will keep some of what he instituted in place, and put their own fingerprints on the effort. Year-By-Year Kicking Leaders PUNTING Punt Average Long Year Player Attempts Punt Punt 2015 Blake O'Neill 53 41.3 80 2014 Will Hagerup 53 42.9 63 2013 Matt Wile 61 40.6 69 2012 Will Hagerup 33 45.0 62 2011 Matt Wile 17 41.6 58 2010 Will Hagerup 33 43.6 72 2009 Zoltan Mesko 52 44.5 66 2008 Zoltan Mesko 80 43.0 63 2007 Zoltan Mesko 70 41.1 68 2006 Zoltan Mesko 50 41.6 64 FIELD GOALS Year Player FG Attempts FG Made Long FG 2015 Kenny Allen 22 18 47 2014 Matt Wile 21 15 48 2013 Brendan Gibbons 20 15 47 2012 Brendan Gibbons 18 16 52 2011 Brendan Gibbons 17 13 43 2010 Seth Broekhuizen 9 3 37 2009 Jason Olesnavage 15 11 51 2008 K.C. Lopata 15 10 50 2007 K.C. Lopata 12 11 42 2006 Garrett Rivas 20 17 48 Redshirt freshman Andrew David will be among the young specialists trying to wrestle one of the kicking jobs away from Allen. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN