Editor’s note: Welcome to the CU Independent’s week-long season preview of the Colorado Buffaloes football team. Each day, we will delve into the different aspects of CU football leading up to the CSU vs. CU game. On Day 2, we will take a look at special teams.
Though the special teams unit in football doesn’t usually see a lot of playing time, its presence can make or break a game, or even a season.
The Colorado Buffaloes saw this firsthand in 2008.
Last season, things started off hot for the Colorado special teams beginning in the first game of the season. Josh Smith took a kick return in the second quarter 93 yards for a touchdown as the Buffs cruised to a 38-17 victory over Colorado State.
Two weeks later, kicker Aric Goodman hit a 25-yard field goal in overtime as CU defeated No. 21 West Virginia, 17-14.
After that kick though, things seemed to go downhill for the Buffaloes.
Following Goodman’s OT winner, he would miss his next eight field goal attempts and would finish the season 5-for-14 in field goals while Smith would be shut down for the rest of the season. He would eventually leave the team this summer.
Though last season’s special teams struggled, so far throughout fall camp, special teams coach Kent Riddle said he is happy with the progress his unit has made.
“It’s been a very good fall,” Riddle said. “We made progress and we just keep on improving.”
Spring and fall camp have done wonders for Goodman. He has changed his technique by taking out a step before he kicks.
“I just felt that taking it out made everything more consistent and more fluid,” Goodman said. “I’m looking for the same consistency in each kick and I felt that getting rid of it was the way to do it.”
Five months after the season ended, Goodman showed why he’s still the starting placekicker this season. He nailed two field goals in last April’s Spring Game from 43 and 50 yards.
Riddle said it’s Goodman’s mental attitude in which he is most impressed with since last season.
“He’s really devoted himself to the idea of being a great kicker, rather than just wanting to be a great kicker,” Riddle said.
Goodman agrees and says he’s focusing his mindset on forgetting about past kicks.
“I got a little more organized, not only physically but mentally,” Goodman said. “You just have to go out there with the mindset that each kick is different and you can’t drag the last three or four makes or the last miss into the next kick. Each one is different. You just can’t keep that mindset as a kicker.”
It seems like Goodman will go for most field goal attempts, but for punts, a familiar name in an unfamiliar position may get some action this fall.
Currently in the Buffs’ depth chart, sophomore tailback Darrell Scott is the second string punter behind senior Matt DiLallo.
Scott, who punted in high school, showed that he still has the leg with him, punting the ball 48 yards in the third quarter in the Spring Game.
Riddle said it’s Scott’s strength that makes him a good punter.
“He’s one of those guys that has strong legs and muscles it up there,” Riddle said.
Though he’s not no. 1 on the depth chart, Scott said he expects to get some playing time this season.
“I’m going to probably wait another year (until possibly becoming the starter),” Scott said. “They’ll get me in though.”
With Scott getting some playing time as the punter, will fans see any trick plays this fall? Riddle said the possibility exists.
“Possibly,” Riddle said. “You never know.”
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Ron Knabenbauer at Ronald.knabenbauer@colorado.edu.
