University of Delaware Athletics
Photo by: Mark Campbell
Football Season Preview: Special Teams
8/28/2021 12:49:00 PM | Football
It's always nice to see a familiar face. The specials teams unit is similar to offensive and defensive units from last season. The starters return. Newcomers have arrived. There's football to be played.
"Coming into this camp was different than any other," said special teams coach Dave Legg. "It felt like we were coming off a long bye week. Guys came back. Our depth charts are still the same. It was a great starting point. With the film from last season, it was good to show the new guys what we did well, and they can kind of all fell in. We're pretty far along. We'll throw in a few wrinkles, but we're good to go."
With a deep and talented roster on special teams, they're in a good spot.
Ryan Coe stepped into the role of placekicker this past spring for Delaware. He connected on 12 field goals and went a perfect 4 of 4 from the 20-29 range with a season-long field goal of 53 yards.
"Ryan is still young, but he knows the system," said Legg. "He knows what he needs to do and what he needs to clean up. We're both on the same page with that."
Coe has handled kickoff duties for Delaware since 2019. In the spring, Coe registered 44 kickoffs for 2,559 yards and an average of 58.2 yards per kick with 18 touchbacks with only two going out of bounds.
"Ryan has the ability to punt, but we don't want him to do all three. We did have a competition last year with Tyler Pastula and Brandon Ratcliffe. For camp, they have both done a good job and are much more consistent."
Pastula handled all 36 punts in the spring for the Blue Hens for an average of 39.56 yards per punt and a long of 69 in the spring. Ten punts landed inside the 20, while two resulted in touchbacks.
"We consider Jourdan Townsend and Dejoun Lee our first-two returners, but we definitely have other options. We want a guy that's reliable and knows when to catch and when not to catch. We feel like we're in pretty good hands," said Legg.
Townsend has handled punt return duties for Delaware for the last two seasons. He returned all 11 punts for UD in each of the past two seasons.
In the shortened spring season, Lee, UD's starting running back, had seven kickoff returns for 26.86 yards per return with an 87-yard score. Lee has been returning kickoffs since 2018 giving him 58 returns over the course of the years.
"Dejoun will be back there," said Legg. "If we told him he couldn't be back there, he'd run out and do it anyway." Â
Take Lee's experience, mix in Townsend, Gene Coleman II, and a wealth of others and you have a dynamite group. Fans should keep an eye on UD's return game this fall because that's one position that has plenty of players ready to step in, make the catch, and run towards the end zone.
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"Coming into this camp was different than any other," said special teams coach Dave Legg. "It felt like we were coming off a long bye week. Guys came back. Our depth charts are still the same. It was a great starting point. With the film from last season, it was good to show the new guys what we did well, and they can kind of all fell in. We're pretty far along. We'll throw in a few wrinkles, but we're good to go."
With a deep and talented roster on special teams, they're in a good spot.
Ryan Coe stepped into the role of placekicker this past spring for Delaware. He connected on 12 field goals and went a perfect 4 of 4 from the 20-29 range with a season-long field goal of 53 yards.
"Ryan is still young, but he knows the system," said Legg. "He knows what he needs to do and what he needs to clean up. We're both on the same page with that."
Coe has handled kickoff duties for Delaware since 2019. In the spring, Coe registered 44 kickoffs for 2,559 yards and an average of 58.2 yards per kick with 18 touchbacks with only two going out of bounds.
"Ryan has the ability to punt, but we don't want him to do all three. We did have a competition last year with Tyler Pastula and Brandon Ratcliffe. For camp, they have both done a good job and are much more consistent."
Pastula handled all 36 punts in the spring for the Blue Hens for an average of 39.56 yards per punt and a long of 69 in the spring. Ten punts landed inside the 20, while two resulted in touchbacks.
"We consider Jourdan Townsend and Dejoun Lee our first-two returners, but we definitely have other options. We want a guy that's reliable and knows when to catch and when not to catch. We feel like we're in pretty good hands," said Legg.
Townsend has handled punt return duties for Delaware for the last two seasons. He returned all 11 punts for UD in each of the past two seasons.
In the shortened spring season, Lee, UD's starting running back, had seven kickoff returns for 26.86 yards per return with an 87-yard score. Lee has been returning kickoffs since 2018 giving him 58 returns over the course of the years.
"Dejoun will be back there," said Legg. "If we told him he couldn't be back there, he'd run out and do it anyway." Â
Take Lee's experience, mix in Townsend, Gene Coleman II, and a wealth of others and you have a dynamite group. Fans should keep an eye on UD's return game this fall because that's one position that has plenty of players ready to step in, make the catch, and run towards the end zone.
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