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MINNEAPOLIS -- It would be natural to expect that Marcus Jones has lost a step after multiple knee surgeries. The Gophers cornerback proved Thursday that he hasn't.
Jones gave Minnesota some breathing room -- and gave his team the spark it desperately needed -- with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half of what turned into a 51-23 rout of visiting UNLV. As the Gophers entered the second half with just a three-point lead, Jones' big return helped break things open for coach Jerry Kill's squad.
"Marcus Jones, when we left the locker room, I said, 'Someone's got to step up and make a play; we've got to make some big plays. We're capable of that, just loosen up and go play,'" Kill said. "And then, boom, the opening kickoff of the second half.
"It couldn't happen to a better kid."
The big special teams play by Jones brought the TCF Bank Stadium crowd to its feet and put Minnesota ahead by 10 points. Jones found a seam and sprinted past everybody with surprising speed for a wide receiver-turned-cornerback who has had surgeries on both of his ACLs. He missed half of the 2011 season with a knee injury and had a limited role as a wide receiver in 2012, making just six catches.
Thursday's touchdown was validation for Jones that all the hard work he's put in and all the hours of rehab have been worth it.
"It's kind of unexplainable, just because it felt so great at the time," Jones said of the kickoff return. "At the same time, it reflects the training staff, the weight lifting staff, my teammates and the encouragement they gave me from my rehab process both times. They just kept pushing me, so I kept pushing myself. That's just hard working manifesting itself."
While Jones' return was key to Minnesota's second-half outburst, the Gophers' special teams unit wasn't done making an impact.
Just over seven minutes later, 6-foot-6, 311-pound defensive lineman Ra'Shede Hageman got his big paw on a Nolan Kohorst field goal attempt and blocked the kick. Cornerback Martez Shabazz scooped up the loose ball and ran it back 51 yards for Minnesota's second special teams touchdown of the half.
Hageman said he looked around for the bouncing ball after he blocked it, but couldn't find it. Luckily for him, the quicker Shabazz was there to finish the play and give Minnesota a 30-13 cushion midway through the third quarter.
"As soon as I felt the ball touching my hands, the first thing I thought about was, 'Where's the ball?'" Hageman said. "I'm not as fast as I was back in high school, so I wasn't able to run and scoop and score. I just had that football knowledge of keep the play moving and have Shabazz pick it up, which was great by him."
For Shabazz, the touchdown atoned for a play earlier in the game in which he was beat in the secondary on UNLV's second touchdown of the game. Rebels quarterback Nick Sherry connected with wide receiver Devante Davis with 5:04 remaining in the second quarter, and Shabazz was the victim on the play as he tried to guard Davis.
That touchdown pass gave the Rebels a temporary lead in the second quarter. Shabazz's revenge, however, gave Minnesota a comfortable 17-point lead thanks to his pick-six. When he grabbed the bouncing ball near midfield, there was no one between him and the end zone.
"It was a bounce-back play," Shabazz said. "I gave up a big touchdown in the first half, and everybody was just telling me to keep my head in the game. … I was just waiting for the ball to bounce. It was like a dream."
Minnesota kept adding points with the offense standing on the sideline. Early in the fourth quarter, junior cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun stepped in front of a Sherry pass and took it 89 yards to the end zone. It was the Gophers' third touchdown of the second half, none of which came via the offense.
Boddy-Calhoun got extra playing time at cornerback on Thursday due to an injury that kept starter Derrick Wells from suiting up. He made the most of his opportunity, finishing the game with three tackles and one interception return that left him a bit winded.
"I just looked to my left and I saw the quarterback kicking, so I was thinking I'm going to have to bust a move because I'm not going to outrun him," Boddy-Calhoun said. "I was a little gassed, I'm not going to lie."
Minnesota's offense finally did add a few touchdowns late in the second half on a pair of short quarterback runs by Philip Nelson and freshman Mitch Leidner. By that point, though, the game was well out of reach thanks to Minnesota's special teams and defense.
The Gophers fell victim to those types of big plays last year. In the season opener, Minnesota felt much better about being on the other side of them.
"The defense and special teams, they saved us tonight," Nelson said. "That's what Coach Kill preaches all the time is special teams making some game-changing plays, and that's what happened tonight."
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