Q and A: Shayne Wasden
September 26, 2007
Let’s just say special teams controlled Troy’s 48-31 win over ULL last Saturday. Here’s some thoughts from special teams coach Shayne Wasden. Oh, he also coaches the outside WRs too.
I’ll be emptying out the quotebook this week too. Might have some of that later today from Troy players.
Were you surprised how much ULL kicked away from Leodis McKelvin?
On kickoffs, definitely surprised. Punts, not so surprised. They had been doing a really good job of fielding kickoffs and that hadn’t been one of our strongest areas. They hadn’t really punted to anybody so I told Leodis he’d have to run and get them because he was erratic all season. The snapper had been struggling all season so they were just trying to get them off as fast as they could.
Guess you can’t complain about that, though, can you?
Our No. 1 goal in special teams is to win the field position battle and we certainly did that. Greg did a great job punting with three of his punts inside the 10.
How did Whibbs handle both (kicking and punting) duties for the first time?
He’s a guy that can handle doing both. He stepped up to it and took care of business for us.
How much does Whibbs need to kick during the week?
Not much. That’s one thing we have to monitor because he’s such a hard-working guy and he wants to kick a lot, so we try to hold his reps to live kicking and a few at the end of practice so he doesn’t get overworked.
What about the guys you’re trying to redshirt (kicker Michael Taylor and punter Will Goggans) how are they looking?
Both of them have really strong legs. They’re going to be really good kickers for us. Hopefully Will will be our punter for the next four years and we won’t have to have three punters in four years. That’s what we’re shooting for. Michael has a really strong leg and he’s probably as good of a kickoff guy right now as Greg is, he just has to get more consistent with field goals.
If they’re pooch-kicking off, do you try to sneak in a speedy guy as an upback?
It’s a guessing game. The other night, they were pooching it one side so we swapped Dawkins over there to catch the pooch, and they kicked it the other way. We substituted Kennard Burton for Bear Woods and that was the one Leodis was able to run up and catch it. It’s a game, because you don’t know where they will kick it.
As for the two upbacks (the guys on the line in front of the two returners), what are you looking for there?
You want somebody that can catch the ball and block. You’re not looking for a great return guy. We were fine with them kicking to Dawkins because he can run the ball. Bear, not so much, but he does a great job blocking.
