Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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time to organizing and game plan- ning for that one-third of the game that is so often preached, but not so often practiced. Booker said the main goal during dynamic with the ball and in the kick- ing game," he said. "It's just doing it on a day-to-day and consistent level. I think that's what coach has been talk- ing about, and that's what we're go- ing to be harping on our guys about." problem with punt returns in 2011. The Irish amassed 48 yards while re- ceiving punts last season, 41 of which came on Michael Floyd's first-quarter return in the Champs Sports Bowl. Without that outlier, Notre Dame would have finished dead last among Football Bowl Subdivision teams in the category. Fifth-year senior John Goodman Too much consistency was the PUNTING the offseason and throughout the fall is to develop consistency. "We have a lot of specialists that are attempt of his career as a freshman at Michigan, then bounced back to hit his next 14 and set a school record for consecutive successful attempts. He fell short on two kicks in his final ap- pearance of the season against Navy before missing the last three games with an injury, which opened the door for Ruffer. Tausch is now the frontrunner to Senior Nick Tausch missed the first win his job back for his senior season. He'll have to fend off Brindza, who kicked 19 field goals as a high school senior, including six from 50-plus yards. Consistency, and accuracy, will once again be the name of the game in this competition. Ruffer finished 10 of 16 in his final season, and his misses cost the Irish important points at times. likely be anchored by Brindza, but will be led by senior Chris Salvi. The former walk-on earned a scholarship based on his production on special teams last season. He finished the year with 10 tackles, most of which came on kickoff duty. He said this year he plans to be the group's lead- ing playmaker again. Unless George Atkinson III be- Notre Dame's kickoff team will KICKOFFS fielded most of the year's punts and is back for his fifth year in 2012. The Irish have several untested options to go in another direction if they de- sire. Junior Austin Collinsworth vol- unteered for the position late in the season. Newcomers like the shifty Davonte Neal and C.J. Prosise will also likely get an audition. Prosise ran four punts back for touchdowns as a high school senior, and his coach com- pared trying to stop him to "playing someone in chess who is two moves ahead of you." On the other side of the ball, it took senior Ben Turk a few games to show why he earned such high praise dur- ing training camp. Turk struggled to replicate his practice punts in front of 80,000 screaming fans. Eventually, he straightened them out and ended the season with an average of 39.2 yards per punt. Turk's job is fairly safe heading into spring practice, but if he continues to struggle on game days, sophomore Kyle Brindza has the leg power to warrant a long look. way into a competition for field goal duties as well this season. Notre Dame has to replace a former Lou Groza Award finalist and program record holder in David Ruffer. Luckily, the Irish still have the guy who held the record before Ruffer on their roster. Brindza could potentially kick his FIELD GOALS Actual Touchbacks: 13 Adjusted Touchbacks: 33 Potential Increase: 154% Notre Dame Total Kicks: 73 www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Adjusted Touchbacks: 20 Potential Increase: 400% Total Kicks: 60 Touchbacks: 4 Opponents APRIL 2012 39 Booker was a four-year standout on special teams while playing safety at Kent State in the early 2000s, but this will be his first go-around coaching that phase of the game. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS comes a major part of Notre Dame's offense, he will have the chance to expand on his impressive first season returning kickoffs. Atkinson scored against Michigan State and USC and swung momentum toward the Irish sideline drastically in both of those games. He averaged 26.14 yards per return, which was the 19th-best to- tal in the country. If Atkinson does need to give up his post, there is a fast line of players who could also turn in big returns for the Irish. The top candidates are Neal, Prosise and Atkinson's twin, and equally speedy, brother, Josh. ✦ New Kickoff Rules kickoffs would move from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. It's amazing what a difference five yards can make. Both Notre Dame and its opponents would have more than doubled their touchbacks in 2011 had they kicked from the 35. (See charts) The new rules also provide further incentive to take a knee. Touchbacks in 2012 will put a team's offense on the 25-yard line instead of the 20-yard line. Smart players will think twice before crossing their own goal line. Of the 12 kicks that Notre Dame and its opponents brought out of the end zone last year, none were returned past the 25-yard line. The NCAA announced last month that, in an effort to prevent more injuries, the starting point for