Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State Football: Could Special Teams Be An Issue?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Will the Ohio State special teams be solid?

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer takes pride in the play of his special teams units but there are question marks with at least two of the units to begin the season. The Buckeyes will enter the first game against Bowling Green with a new long snapper and an untested kicker.

Bryce Haynes was the starter at long snapper at Ohio State for three seasons but he graduated and redshirt freshman Liam McCullough will take over his spot. Junior placekicker Sean Nuernberger is going to miss at least the first game with a hamstring injury. He will be replaced my walk-on Tyler Durban.

Haynes was ranked the No. 1 long in the nation his senior year in high school and is only the second long snapper ever to receive a scholarship offer at Ohio State. He will probably be fine on the punting unit but it will be his first real game in front of 100,000 fans.

With a new center and kicker there is the potential for issues with the field goal and extra point teams. There could be a timing and trust issue.

Anyone who has been a kicker or a holder, and I have been both, know exactly what I mean. The center, holder and kicker have to work as one unit for the kick to be successful.

Every center snaps the ball at a different speed and every holder sets the ball down somewhat differently. It is important for the kicker to understand the timing and have the trust in them that will allow him to get his steps correctly and then his plant foot.

Any misstep or hesitation by the kicker will often result in a miss. It usually takes some time with the three players working together to get the timing down.

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Urban Meyer will probably do what he did with Nuernberger when he was a freshman. Just not kick fields unless it’s fourth and long on the 30 yard line. Missing an extra point shouldn’t hurt Ohio State, but something else could.

Ohio State has had one of the best kickoff teams in the country since Urban Meyer arrived on campus. However, it’s success in large part is due to the ball placement by the kicker,

Urban likes to squeeze the field with his players and have the ball kicked to around 5-10 yards in from the left sideline. If the kicker pulls or hooks the ball, it’s out of bounds and the opposing team has good field position.

A slight push to the middle and the returner can take the ball up the opposite side of the field where there aren’t as many defenders. If one guy misses a tackle, it could be off to the races.

Possibly there won’t be any special teams issues so it won’t be a problem on Saturday. But if there are, it can always be an equalizer to an out-manned team. The last thing Urban Meyer wants is for Bowling Green to think they are still in a football game in the fourth quarter.

And if there were to be a problem, Ohio state will only have two weeks to clear things up before their trip to Norman, Oklahoma.

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