Will NU return kicks this year?

[SmellyCat]

Ok, Henning is coming. He returned 11 kickoffs for 241 yards last year (6 for 179 in 2021) and 28 punts for 201 yards (29 for 274 in 2021). Not amazing stats, but probably better than anything NU has done regularly. Will they let him return kicks this year or are we going to see 95% of our kickoff drives start at the 25 and 95% of our punt drives start inside the five (because our returner let it go over his head and the punting team pins us back)?

 

[mshelton33]

I think there's a real chance they let him go for it. He didn't really have a green light, but they put Evan Hull back to return and he was the starting RB. So even if AJ is WR1, he should get the returner role as well.

 

[Bwm57]

I would certainly hope so!!

 

[IGNORE2]

Ok, Henning is coming. He returned 11 kickoffs for 241 yards last year (6 for 179 in 2021) and 28 punts for 201 yards (29 for 274 in 2021). Not amazing stats, but probably better than anything NU has done regularly. Will they let him return kicks this year or are we going to see 95% of our kickoff drives start at the 25 and 95% of our punt drives start inside the five (because our returner let it go over his head and the punting team pins us back)?

They will have a few opportunities….

 

[phatcat]

They will have a few opportunities….

KORs yes. PRs not sure

 

[FanatiCat]

We better have him returning all the kicks he wants to. It would be a huge misuse of his talent to handcuff him from returning kicks. This is especially true when your offense struggles to get first downs - an extra 10-15 yards or a chance at flipping the field or a TD are more than worth the small risk of a fumble or tackle inside the 20.

 

[Deeringfish]

I'd rather see him be successful as a receiver than getting worn out or injured returning kicks. If he likes doing both, I guess, have at it.

 

[corbi296]

I'd rather see him be successful as a receiver than getting worn out or injured returning kicks. If he likes doing both, I guess, have at it.

You do realize that in his college career to date he has proven himself to be a much better kick returner than receiver (a total of 25 receptions over three years at Michigan). Hopefully he blossoms as a receiver at NU but I think it would be malpractice to not also use him as a returner. We need all the field position we can get.

 

[SmellyCat]

My feeling is Fitz will continue to tell his kickoff returners to take touchback/fair catch whenever possible, but that with Henning he'll be more inclined to try to return punts.

 

[CatManTrue]

Hopefully. Our offense needs every yard it can get to help out, and he should be a weapon in the return game.

It would be malpractice of Fitz/Genyk to fair catch KO returns unless he’s in the endzone.

 

[SmellyCat]

I'm interested in seeing what Braun and a coaching staff not led by Fitz does differently than Fitz. Maybe they return kicks. Maybe they attempt field goals on fourth-and-10 from the 25. Maybe there's a more vertical passing game. Hey, it's something. Really interested in what Henning brings to this team, because he has a skillset that Fitz hadn't really taken advantage of in recent years.

 

[NJCat]

I'm interested in seeing what Braun and a coaching staff not led by Fitz does differently than Fitz. Maybe they return kicks. Maybe they attempt field goals on fourth-and-10 from the 25. Maybe there's a more vertical passing game. Hey, it's something. Really interested in what Henning brings to this team, because he has a skillset that Fitz hadn't really taken advantage of in recent years.

Braun will have his hands full with the defense. Jake will set the tone on offense. We'll finally see if the dark ages conservative offense was due to Fitz or Jake.

 

[Medill '03]

I'm interested in seeing what Braun and a coaching staff not led by Fitz does differently than Fitz. Maybe they return kicks. Maybe they attempt field goals on fourth-and-10 from the 25. Maybe there's a more vertical passing game. Hey, it's something. Really interested in what Henning brings to this team, because he has a skillset that Fitz hadn't really taken advantage of in recent years.

I’m guessing it will be somewhat exciting to see the team without Fitz and also that we’ll be blown out even more.

 

[SmellyCat]

I’m guessing it will be somewhat exciting to see the team without Fitz and also that we’ll be blown out even more.

Maybe it'll feel like the 1989 team, which was pretty bad and didn't win, but still scored a decent amount of points.