One thing I want this upcoming football season

[chinngiskhaan]

A punt returner that can actually return punts. If they are going to muff punts, I’d rather have Vele… but it would be huge to have someone back there that could actually make someone miss. Vele must be the slowest P5 punt returner, if not the slowest in P5 and G5. Dude has great hands, but he has no business being a returner.

[Utephoria]

I say give Mikey Matthews a shot, even though he is a freshman and unproven as a punt returner. The guy has good hands and the speed to get down field. Maybe Money Parks is another one to give a chance.

[Ute Dub]

Utah’s punt return average was 6th in the conference, not last. LINK And Vele’s average is 2 yards better than Utah’s team average. Can we stop talking in annoying absolutes? “Vele must be the slowest P5 Punt Returner….” I bet this senior, basically tenured, coaching staff was like, you know what, F**K IT! Let’s put the worst guy out there and see if we can still win the conference. 

Meanwhile, 1-11 Colorado had the best average.

[chinngiskhaan]

says he wants to stop talking in absolutes, then uses absolutes… LOL. Maybe quit reading more into posts than is intended.

I didn’t say he was the worst punt returner. I said SLOWEST. He is slow. He doesn’t make people miss. He doesn’t make stupid decisions and run backwards, he doesn’t fumble either, which is great… but he doesn’t really make many people miss either.

Utah has an excellent return scheme, which IMO makes lots of returners look better than they are.

That being said, Vele isn’t a BAD returner. I never so much as implied that he was. I said he was slow for a returner. I said he was (might be, don’t remember the exact words I used) the slowest P5 returner. Do you honeslty disagree with that statement? I’m not speaking in hyperbole here. He is objectively slow for a PR guy. No clue what his 40 time is, but he isn’t particularly agile, or good at making guys miss.

Is it possible that I’m wrong about Vele’s speed? Sure, of course it is… But 

Vele presents no danger of ever returning a punt for a TD, and I honestly don’t think our #1 wide receiver (do we have such a thing?) should be out there on special teams. I understand why the coaches did it, because we didn’t have anyone else that could hold onto a football like him, but man, it would be nice to have a home run threat PR again.

Vele is fine, he doesn’t turn it over. I’m not complaining. I would just like to see someone back there that is more of a home run threat (provided they don’t fumble either).

[SOWhat]

You did a lot of complaining for not complaining. I am perfectly fine if the returner just catches the ball. That’s his job and Vele did it well. There are not a lot of Covey’s out there. The coaches know the players and plan accordingly. If they find a good returner and he doesn’t muff the ball I’m good for that. A muffed punt is the worst error a team can make, catching the ball is a must, a return is secondary.
Vele is a good possession receiver, returner, every team needs one. He runs good routes and hardly ever drops the ball.

[2008 National Champ]

Covey was high risk-high reward. He put the ball on the ground a lot

Vele appears more like Dante Pettis from UW (career punt return TD leader). Long strider, not game breaking speed, but definitely faster than he appears. Gilmore was brought in to be the punt returner but muffed at least two punts.

There are plenty of guys on the roster who returned punts/kicks in high school. Whitt being a defensive guy, probably prefers the lower risk option of a guy who will secure the ball and make sure his defense doesn’t have to go immediately back on the field.

[mfaulk80]

In 47 games over his time at Utah, Britain Covey fumbled 4 times:  once in 2015, once in 2018, and twice in 2019.  Three of those were on kickoff/punt returns.

[thirtyfour-thirtyone]

Don’t forget the forward pass on the kickoff return from near (or in?) in the endzone. 

 

But yeah, he was one of the most reliable and sure-handed receivers/returners ever at Utah, while also being one of the most electric.  He also generally made good decisions.  That’s why he does it for the Eagles now.

[2008 National Champ]

Pretty sure that stat doesn’t include the times he recovered his own muff. Also doesn’t include the muff he had against ASU in 2021 that was nullified by penalty.

Covey is credited with 5 return TD’s for his career. If we just use your number of 4 turnovers, that’s high-risk high reward to me. Yes, every time he got the ball on special teams it was exciting. The problem is that every time he got the ball on special teams it was exciting.

[AZUTE]

Whit only cares about one thing when it comes to punts returns….. Just catch the ball any yards on a return is gravy.

Covey was different he was such a unicorn in the return game.

[Charlie]

It is a bit more complex. If you have heard Whitt talk about flipping the field or flip a game, you know he understands well the value in the return game but he also believes everything starts with a secure ball. A turnover in the kick return is double bad, a turnover and loss of field position.

Whitt always wants what he doesn’t have and he wants everything. If a kick catch is sketchy, you will hear about it. If we don’t have yards after catch often enough, you will hear about it. If you can’t give him a touchback every time he asks for it, you will hear about it. If you can give he a touchback whenever asked, he will mix in strategies to pin you inside the 25.

Over the course of a game Whitt wants more field position from special teams than the other team, not the same, and not at all less. At any one time we will hear about the piece that upsets that. I think Whitt cares about special teams more than almost any other HC. Myself, as you come down to HS and little league, it is even more shocking how often special teams make the difference between winning and losing. Still, most media focus endlessly on offense and defense.

[D T]

Similar to how everybody feels when the kickoff flies through the endzone , it feels great knowing we’ll never have a muffed punt with Vele back there….That’s huge in football, even if he’s not gaining yards after the catch….I’m not even remotely interested in the high-risk/high-reward you seek….I’m perfectly satisfied with the sure thing AND no turnovers.

[belli1976]

Chinngis wants K Clay on the 1 yard line.

[DrahtUte]

Too soon,  belli. 

[belli1976]

Draht it has almost been a decade. But yet my stomach still turned as I typed.

[PNW Ute]

In our (not-so-distant) past, when the team was built on defense and special teams and struggled on offense, I would have agreed that we needed a punt returner that could help give the team good field position and occasionally score a TD. Now, while that would still be nice, I feel that since our offense has been very good the last couple of years, it’s more important to secure the ball. An extra 10 yards for field position is nice, but not really necessary when our offense is moving the ball anyway. Just need no mistakes.

[utefansince79]

Among the most devastating mistakes in a football game is when a punt is muffed and recovered by the kicking team.  Instead of getting the ball back after a defensive stop, you give the other team about a 40 yard play and a fresh set of downs.