Assalley on scholarship
- Thread starter CyTwins
- Start date
Good for him. Had a tough start to the season, but was pretty solid if you didn't ask him to kick a long FG. Would like to know what the plans are for kickoffs next year. Maybe he can handle that too, but it seems like he doesn't have that strong of a leg.
Drake Nettles will be a redshirt frosh. His bio states he led the state (Iowa) in kickoff average in high school. However his average was about 56 yards, so that would reach the 9 yard line.
So unless one of our kickers really beefs up in the off season, it appears that next year we will again be dealing with relatively short kickoffs. Seems like 95% of the time we are able to tackle the returner short of the 30. But that other 5% is what really hurts when you are trying to "win in the margins."
If we played 30 games in a season and you lose one game due to a kickoff return, then maybe you can live with that. But when you only get 12 games, and you have the 6th or 7th best talent in the conference (per recruiting ratings), then you don't have that margin for error, IMO.
So unless one of our kickers really beefs up in the off season, it appears that next year we will again be dealing with relatively short kickoffs. Seems like 95% of the time we are able to tackle the returner short of the 30. But that other 5% is what really hurts when you are trying to "win in the margins."
If we played 30 games in a season and you lose one game due to a kickoff return, then maybe you can live with that. But when you only get 12 games, and you have the 6th or 7th best talent in the conference (per recruiting ratings), then you don't have that margin for error, IMO.
