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Five Pre-Camp Questions: #4) How Special Can The Special Teams Be?
August 20, 2010 | Football
With fall camp approaching for the 2010 Princeton football team, GoPrincetonTigers.com will take a look at five questions surrounding the team as it prepares for its 142nd season of college football.
QUESTION 1: What did the 2009 experience mean for Tommy Wornham?
QUESTION 2: Who could be the breakout defensive star?
QUESTION 3: Who will serve and protect the offense?
It wasn't the play that won Princeton an Ivy League championship. But it might have been the play Princeton needed to believe it could win an Ivy League title.
In 10 of the last 12 seasons, either Penn or Harvard has earned at least a share of the Ivy League title. Princeton didn't need a reminder of that in 2005, when it looked to break long losing streaks against both programs, including a nine-year skid against Harvard.
With eight minutes remaining in their game at Boston, the Tigers were staring at No. 10. Despite leading for much of the game, a 52-yard Crimson touchdown pass left Princeton down 24-20. Harvard kicked off, needing to kill only 7:21 to stay alive in the Ivy championship race.
As it turned out, it wouldn't even get the 21 seconds. Eventual All-America senior Jay McCareins fielded the kickoff, founded his blockers first, then the right sideline and, finally, the end zone to lead Princeton to a 27-24 victory. That win did as much mentally for the Tigers as any other; they would win their next three games against either Penn or Harvard, including both close matchups in the 2006 championship season.
Special teams is the easily forgotten part of football. It's far more fun to compare quarterbacks and linebackers, or to discuss running games and pass rushes.
Then you need the big kick, or a key return, or just a switch in field position, and you realize just how important special teams is in football. In a league as close as the Ivy League (nine of Princeton's last 13 Ivy wins have been decided by seven points or fewer), special teams takes on an even greater role.
Bob Surace, the Charles W. Caldwell Jr. '25 Head Coach of Football, indicated just how much he values special teams when he put together his coaching staff. Jim Salgado, a longtime Syracuse assistant and a coach in the Ivy League last year, was given the title of both defensive backfield coach and special teams coordinator when he joined Surace's staff. You can feel confident that Salgado will spend plenty of time looking to get more out of special teams than Princeton has received in recent years.
Since McCareins' touchdown in the sixth game of the 2005 season, Princeton has not returned a kickoff for a score. The Tigers haven't returned a punt for a touchdown since 2000. They haven't blocked a punt since 2005, nor have they had a kicker make three field goals in one game since that season.
And last season, Princeton ranked eighth in the Ivy League in both punt returns and kickoff returns. In an eight-team league, that isn't very good.
The biggest bright spot Princeton had in special teams last season came from Ivan Charbonneau, who was consistently one of the Tigers' best defenders in the return game. He eventually got a shot to return kickoffs and often provided a fair amount of breathing room for the offense; his 17.4-yard return might not jump off the stat sheet, but they were hard-earned yards.
Salgado should have a bevy of options to work with, considering the depth at both wide receiver and defensive back this season. Senior Jeb Heavenrich could become the most dangerous of the lot, while defensive back-turned-tailback Meko McCray is an All-Ivy sprinter who is always a touchdown threat.
Princeton has two punters returning in Otavio Fleury and Joe Cloud; the two rotated last season while punting rugby-style. Whether one wins the job outright or the two continue to rotate, the Tigers would like to see an improvement after ranking fifth in the league last season in net punting.
And then there is placekicking. Rest assured that, at some late point in at least one Ivy League game, Princeton will need three points from its placekicker. Right now, it doesn't have anybody with varsity experience. Ben Bologna handled all kicks last season and split time with Connor Louden the year before; both are now Princeton alumni. Both Patrick Jacob and Andrew Bierschenk are returners who will look to win the job in the fall; while the ability to have deep range would be helpful, consistency inside of 40 yards would mean more for a team that struggled to score in 2009.