Step it up Spring: Special Teams

We're just one day away from Head Coach Pete Mangurian's much-awaited spring prospectus and evaluations of the returning Lions for 2013.

Yes I am excited.

While we wait for that, let's look at the key returning special teams players and assess what they need to accomplish this spring:


Kickers

Rising senior placekicker Luke Eddy has probably the strongest leg I've ever seen on a Columbia kicker. His issue has been consistency, but he stepped it up in 2012 with a big improvement in that area.

Eddy was a perfect 7-7 in FG's between 20-29 yards and an impressive 10-11 in FG's between 20-39 yards. He was 3-8 between 40 and 49 yards, but honestly I can't think of one FG he missed that cost the Lions a game last season. He was a near-perfect 13-14 on PAT's.

If Eddy can get his numbers up to a more respectable 50% level on the longer kicks in 2013, he will go down as one of the best kickers in Columbia history.

On kickoffs, Eddy improved greatly last season. His average kickoff length was greater and he had six more touchbacks than he had in 2011, (albeit with the new kickoff position being the 35 yard line last season).

The other two returning kicking specialists are both primarily punters, with no FG or PAT attempts among them. So this job appears to be Eddy's for now and the spring should belong to him as he tries to show his improvement to the coaching staff.

Punters

Rising senior Paul Delaney is one of the toughest players to ever take the punting job at Columbia. And last year, he stepped it up by increasing his punting average by four yards and kicking much more consistently.

But that consistency still needs to improve a bit more and that's where Delaney needs to step it up this spring.

Fellow rising senior Tyler Feely didn't get a chance to kick at all in 2012, after punting eight times in 2011. The spring should give him a chance to prove he deserves another look.

Returners

Columbia's primary punt returner, rising junior Alec Fisher, stepped it up in 2012 by more than doubling his punt return average and generally fielding punts more sure-handedly. He still needs to work on that latter aspect of his game this spring. Fisher also was a decent kickoff returner last year.

Rising sophomore Brandon Blackshear also showed some good skills fielding a small number of punts last year but his name is suddenly off he roster.

The primary kickoff returner last season was rising sophomore Trevor Bell, and he was electric at that position. Fellow rising sophomore Travis Reim actually had the longest kick return of the season at 49 yards and he showed some serious skills in this area as well. The spring should see a very good competition among Bell, Reim and even Fisher for the primary kickoff returning slot.

Overall, the Lion special teams seem generally better than they have in about four or five years. And with no real graduation losses in this area, Columbia seems like it's in a position to use its special teams to make a winning difference in games this fall.