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May be fielding punts on Sat.

I'm all for not coaching scared, but even I'm not sure about him returning punts for the first time at this level... In Gainesville.

...or it's just sowing misinformation. I dunno. For some reason I'm not consulted on these things.

Book it, Young is back to receive punts Saturday.

why not? It's what he was recruited to do. If he can do it, let him do it. Our other option is also a true freshman, Lane.

Dooley's track record on this is sketchy at best.  It seems we struggled at this last year.  I thought we would never find anyone reliable.  And now he wants to throw in a rook in the swamp?  Do not like.

If he had uncovered a jewel in the rough last year, I would think it was a great idea.  I am going by the track record.

THIS

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/nov/25/punt-troubles-still-a-concern-for-ut/

I would rather he not

It's going to be a freshman no matter what, you realize that right?

Three points:

1. Fans always used to complain that Fulmer wouldn't play all of those talented freshmen that he recruited. Well, here you go.

2. Isn't the team mostly freshmen? (OK, I know it's not. But sometimes it seems that way.)

3. Could this guy be any worse?

Beside the point.  Is Lane injured?  He didn't muff any punts vs. Cincinatti or kick returns either.  Put him back there.

Or if you want Young to return punts, put him in against a Big East patsy ahead by 21, not against the gators in the swamp. 

Why fix something that is not broke...against the gators in the swamp?  Do not like.

Like I said, without our struggles last year, I would not give a shizzle.  But we were simply horrible at this last year.  Don't fizzle with it!   :biggrin:

It must be one of three (or, four?) things:
Our coaching staff thinks Florida won't punt, so it doesn't matter who is scheduled to return them.
Our coaching staff has watched Florida's punt team and likes the odds better with Devrin.
Our coaching staff doesn't see anybody better on our roster right now no matter who we are playing.

(or, four?) Our coaching staff thinks Florida's punter will play right into our hands and kick it deep for two long returns by DY...one for a TD.  I like option "or, four?".   :powert:  :biggrin:  :nod:  :powert:  :run:  :loco:  :powert:

But he did muff one vs. Montana.

IMO if Dooley thinks Young is the guy for the job, he should put Young back there, and droner's point number one is exactly why I think so.

I agree that it's a risky move, bit that's one of the spots we're in with the talent level on the team.

It's true it will be a freshman either way, but to me a freshman who's seen significant gameday action for two whole games and one who's never played a second of cfb are two diff. Things.  Is Young even 80% healthy?  It just makes me nervous.  If it were me I'd wait until Buffalo.

But DD is the coach, so I'm gonna roll with him.

It may be all misinformation anyway.

True.  Give them one more thing to think about.

Dooley:

"I told him I would probably be called the dumbest coach in college football if I put him back there in The Swamp."

"But I'm thinking about it, yeah. It isn't the first dumb thing I've done, so I'm not scared. I don't have to catch it."  :biggrin:

That comment told me that Young will be back for punts Saturday.  I believe that he was recruited primarily for special teams.

He actually said that?  LOL!  Well then, I agree with all of it. Too funny....

That one could come back to haunt him.  :wave:

Or maybe it will depend on the flow of the game. 

I can see Lane being sent in for the first PR, as he's done it in a game already.  Then maybe if it's favorable from a field position standpoint (I.e. Our return man isn't standin on his own 5 yd line) or if Dooley thinks we need a spark, then he gives Young a shot.

Or if Lane has muffed two punts and is benched...

He's not 80%, he was pretty much 100% this week, and played as the scout team RB.  Reportedly, he has fielded punts well, and is a natural at punt returns. That is what he was recruited to do.

Yep. I think he plays, and I'm not so much worried about him fielding the punt as taking a direct, hard hit in the vicinity of that collarbone. Obviously he's got some little waterbug qualities that you like in a punt returner but Dooley has said more than anything that he likes him because he fields the ball cleanly. I doubt that changes with the injury or environment unless he's afraid to get hurt again.

How satisfying would it be for him to take a couple of punts to the house in Gainesville?

would be epic, and make him an instant cult hero

I don't think he is afraid. In fact, when I see his videos, the word "fearless" comes to mind.

You have the choice of two freshmen. Lane has two CFB games experience with 1 muff. Young has no experience but catches the ball cleanly (and apparently consistently based on the comment).

I go with Young.  If he can catch at least as well as Lane (but prolly better) and he can scoot and scat, then I say play him.

You can't play or coach scared. If he was going to be the PR all along then I see no reason why he can't do it now. We don't have any experience to speak of with anyone fielding punts, let alone good experience.

I trust Dooley.

Well if Dooley is going to say things like that, then I change my thinking.  My fear is now overiden by my desire to see what happens.

Unlike some of you, I do NOT trust Dooley's judgement on this.  I would assume that as HC he approves the punt returners, or at least I hope so.   He pretty much picked some stinkers last year, and now he's throwing in a true frosh in the swamp.  On the surface, as he himself says, this is an INCREDIBLY stupid thing to do.

I would love to be wrong though.

So fizzle it.  Put him in.  Let's see what happens.   :biggrin:

Since he tried about 10 people back there last year, I think it's on the players who weren't catching it, not the coach who was picking them. Even Gerald Jones who had been reliable previously had a muff I think (plus he was hurt for the first part of the year). I just don't think they had any natural punt catchers on the team and that's why I think we are seeing freshmen do it now.

I don't agree.  Everything is ultimately the responsibility of the coach.   Is it possible that Dooley has some anxiety about the punt returners that he transmitted to the team?  Who knows.  What is true is that we SUCKED at this last year.  Now is not the time to experiment!

It reminds me of some of Fulmer's bonehead moves.  In 1994, Aaron Hayden fumbled twice vs. MSU and Fulmer left him in.  He promptly proceeded to fumble TWICE MORE and DEFINITELY cost us the game.  What makes that even more of a head scratcher is that we didn't even need him...he split carries with James Stewart, who was just as good as Hayden.  Why in the fizzle did Fulmer leave him in?


Another example....Terry Fair fumbled TWO punts vs. Auburn in the 1997 SECC.  Fulmer let him continue vs. Nebraska in the bowl game...and he promptly fumbled the first kick he caught! 

Sometimes a move is so glaringly bad that it shouild just be avoided.   This may or may not fall into that category, but I dont like it.  It's far more likely to bite us in the ass than help. IMO.

We will find out soon enough!  Or not.  :wave:

At this point I almost want to see what happens, as I mention above.   :biggrin:

Coach Dooley has an advantage over us Joe Schmoes in that he's actually at practice everyday developing and evaluating players.  To trust our own judgement over his is kind of ridiculous. Some will say that we should put him in and others will say that we shouldn't.  Either way, some of us will be right and some of us will be wrong in our guesses.

That will make it convenient for some of us to say, "See? I knew better than the coach." But in reality, all we are doing is making a guess about whether or not the decisions of the coach will be successful. 

Personally, I do trust Dooley to make the decision. I'll decide afterwards if it was a good one or not.

Now hold on a minute.  To that point, the Orange Bowl that year might have been the most important bowl game we had ever played in.  Had things fallen right elsewhere, we could've won a NC had we beaten Nebraska.  Are you actually saying that you would've sat our two-time All-American return guy because he had a bad game five weeks before in the SECC?  IIRC, Peyton Manning had a rough outing against Vandy that year, too.  Would you have sat him for the next one? :confused:

Young's response to Dooley:  "That's what you signed me for!"

Perfect response IMO.

I state again, Young will be back to return punts Saturday.

I'm not sure this is a bad idea. Fielding punts is all about confidence. Technically, it isn't that hard. Mentally....another question. Sometimes, you take a young guy with some natural running ability and give him this one job and he will do a good job. As we've seen, even an upper classman can screw it up. Sometimes it's because they've got other things running around in their head. It's a judgement call. I trust the coaches to know whether this kid is mentally tough enough to do the job.

My worry is that UF will try a fake on him by throwing a pass and he may not be tall enough to see what is going on nor know what to look for. It's sure what I'd be thinking if I was UF.

Crockett

Who knows, he may be our Brandon James.

I thnik we ought to hire Dale Carter  to teach guts

By "guts" I'm assuming you mean, "get coked up before the game where you don't give a shizzle about anything that's going on"? :naughty:

Absolutely.  I was at the SECC when he tried to give the game to Auburn, and I nearly threw something at the TV when he did it vs. Nebraska.

We had plenty of other options.

damn you... he was one of my vol heros.... you just destroyed that in one post....   :wtf:

I honestly don't know for a fact that he played coked up at UT, but he had a real problem with coke shortly after he left UT to go to the NFL.

Given that he would field punts (w/o fair catch) when someone was 5 feet from him.... you are probably right.  But still..... crap

So you would've sat Terry Fair, our best returner of the past 15 years (at least) for someone who had no experience fielding kicks in what could've been a NC game, but you have a problem with playing Devrin Young in a regular season game in September?

I'm not trying to be a smartass, just trying to understand your logic here.

Fulmer would never have been this bold. That's all I need to know. Go Devrin! Go Vols!

CW

^^^This

Not just yes but hell yes.  Fair should have sat.  I saw his two muffs live in the secc. They were awful.  Fulmer never would sit unerprrforkers quickly enough.  That was one of his weaknesses.   Dooley appears to be a horrible judge of punt returnerd.  That's his weakness. Different coaches different weaknesses.   Get it?

Not that it matters...  but I'm totally not with ya on this one.  I don't think there's any way you can say Dooley appears to be a horrible judge of punt returners two games into his second year.  This is before we've even seen Devrin Young, the one guy Dooley has recruited solely for this purpose.

7 miffs or fumbles last year 10 different returnees is horrible period dot.

But.. I really do hope u are right. I hope devon young is the new Willie gault.  I hope he is.  I stillthink thus is a stupid move tho

No but he could occassoinsly be this stupid  :biggrin:

I'm not totally sure about it either, as I've stated in this thread.

But I guess I'm just trying to believe that Dooley's going to let it all hang out and coach without fear.  Gotta believe that's going to rub off on the players, and they're not going to be so uptight like we've known them to be vs. UF over the years.

As I noted before, Dooley has a pair of grade A large ones. Fear?  The other coach's problem.

x

Well I'm happy about that also. Whatever happens I hope works