Special Teams Index: Week 7 update

Published: Oct 15, 2015 · 1:25 PM EDT

Special teams often go under-appreciated, but they can affect a game in a number of ways. As a result, Saturday Down South is giving the SECs special teamers the credit they deserve in the weekly Special Teams Index.

KICKOFFS

South Carolina became the latest team to tally a kickoff return touchdown after freshman Rashad Fenton’s 96-yard TD return against LSU last week. Of the four kickoff return TDs this season, Brandon Holloway’s 100-yard TD against Southern Miss in the season-opener is still the longest.

Missouri and Georgia, who face off this week, are struggling on both sides of the kick return game, ranking 13th and 14, respectively in average yards per return. Meanwhile, Georgia ranks 11th and Missouri ranks 13th in yards per kick return allowed.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt is leading the SEC in coverage by only allowing 15.8 yards per return, which ranks 8th in the FBS.

Here’s a complete rundown of every SEC team’s numbers on kickoff returns and in kickoff coverage this season:

TEAM	YARDS PER RETURN	KICKOFF RETURNS	RETURN TDs
1. Tennessee	37.3	16	2
2. Auburn	31.1	13	0
3. South Carolina	27.6	16	1
4. Kentucky	25.5	11	0
5. Mississippi State	21.5	13	1
6. Texas A&M	21.4	14	0
7. Vanderbilt	21.4	14	0
8. Arkansas	20.6	16	0
9. Florida	20.6	14	0
10. Alabama	18.9	17	0
11. Ole Miss	18.2	16	0
12. LSU	17.7	11	0
13. Missouri	15.3	14	0
14. Georgia	14.9	21	0

TEAM	YARDS PER RETURN ALLOWED	OPP. RETURNS	RETURN TDS ALLOWED
1. Vanderbilt	15.8	14	0
2. Texas A&M	17.9	15	0
3. South Carolina	18.0	9	0
4. Tennessee	18.4	22	0
5. Ole Miss	19.2	24	0
6. Florida	19.3	15	0
7. Mississippi State	19.7	20	0
8.Kentucky	19.7	18	0
9. Alabama	19.8	20	0
10. Arkansas	22.9	22	1
11. Georgia	23.5	24	0
12. LSU	26.2	23	1
13.Missouri	27.1	11	0
14. Auburn	28.7	3	0

PUNTS

There were two punt return TDs in Week 6. Georgia’s Reggie Davis returned one 70 yards for a touchdown against Tennessee, while Mississippi State’s Fred Ross took one back 77 yards for a score against Troy.

At the time, Davis’ return looked like it might be the play of the game as it put the Bulldogs up 24-3 against the Vols, but that was before Tennessee scored 28 unanswered points on the way to the 38-31 win.

Ole Miss is leading the SEC by only allowing 1.8 yards per return, but the Rebels are also last in the SEC in their own punt return game by averaging just 5.9 yards.

Here’s a full rundown of every SEC team’s numbers on punt returns and in punt coverage this season:

TEAM	YARDS PER PUNT RETURN	PUNT RETURNS	RETURN TDs
1. Texas A&M	23.0	9	1
2. Arkansas	17.6	7	0
3. Tennessee	16.3	16	1
4. Georgia	15.6	15	2
5. LSU	14.4	7	1
6. Mississippi State	13.3	11	1
7. Kentucky	10.6	5	0
8. South Carolina	10.0	5	0
9. Auburn	9.7	3	0
10. Alabama	9.0	23	1
11. Florida	8.3	14	0
12. Vanderbilt	7.5	13	0
13. Missouri	6.9	15	1
14. Ole Miss	5.9	15	0

TEAM	YARDS PER PUNT RETURN ALLOWED	OPP. RETURNS	RETURN TDS ALLOWED
1. Ole Miss	1.8	6	0
2. Missouri	4.0	7	0
3. Alabama	4.0	9	0
4. Florida	5.2	12	0
5. South Carolina	6.0	5	0
6. Kentucky	8.8	9	0
7. Auburn	9.0	3	0
8. Mississippi State	9.4	5	0
9. Georgia	11.2	10	1
10. Arkansas	13.0	8	0
11. Texas A&M	13.6	7	0
12. Vanderbilt	13.9	8	1
13. Tennessee	14.6	12	1
14. LSU	23.0	4	0

INDIVIDUALS

Simply put, Evan Berry is as dangerous as they come when fielding kicks. Only one FBS player averages more yards per kick return, and that’s Duke’s DeVon Edwards, just slightly better at 39.7. Other than Berry and Edwards. the only other players with multiple kick return TDs this season are San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny and Rutgers’ Janarion Grant.

Meanwhile, no one is better than Texas A&M’s freshman phenom Christian Kirk in the punt return game. Kirk (27.1) leads the FBS in punt return average while averaging 11 more yards per punt return than the next-best SEC player, Tennessee’s Cameron Sutton with 16.0.

Here’s a full rundown of the SEC’s best individual kickoff and punt returners this season:

NAME	TEAM	YARDS PER KICK RETURN	KICK RETURNS	TDS
1. Evan Berry	Tennessee	39.3	14	2
2. Johnathan Ford	Auburn	33.5	6	0
3. Brandon Holloway	Mississippi State	29.4	7	1
4. Shon Carson	South Carolina	25.2	11	0
5. Sihiem King	Kentucky	23.9	9	0

NAME	TEAM	YARDS PER PUNT RETURN	PUNT RETURNS	TDS
1. Christian Kirk	Texas A&M	27.1	7	1
2. Cameron Sutton	Tennessee	16.0	11	0
3. Tre’Davious White	LSU	14.4	7	1
4. Isaiah McKenzie	Georgia	11.9	10	1
5. Fred Ross	Mississippi State	11.5	10	1

LSU’s Trent Domingue and Mississippi State’s Westin Graves are still perfect on the season. Both kickers went 1-for-1 on attempts last week. Domingue hit a chip shot from 29 yards, while Graves nailed a 42-yarder. There are only three kickers this season that are better than 7-for-7 on field goal tries this season: Duke’s Ross Martin (12-for-12), Oregon’s Aidan Schneider (9-for-9) and Oklahoma’s Austin Seibert (8-for-8).

A couple SEC punters are also making a name for themselves. Texas A&M’s Drew Kaser (51.0) and Tennessee’s Trevor Daniel (47.6) are 1st and 3rd, respectively, among Power 5 players in yards per punt.

Here’s a breakdown of the top individual kickers and punters in the country.

NAME	TEAM	FG PERCENTAGE	FG MADE	FG ATTEMPTED
1. Trent Domingue	LSU	100%	7	7
2. Westin Graves	Mississippi State	100%	7	7
3. Austin MacGinnis	Kentucky	85.7%	6	7
4. Taylor Bertolet	Texas A&M	81.8%	9	11
5. Gary Wunderlich	Ole Miss	80.0%	8	10

NAME	TEAM	YARDS PER PUNT	PUNTS
1. Drew Kaser	Texas A&M	51.0	18
2. Trevor Daniel	Tennessee	47.6	33
3. Johnny Townsend	Florida	44.7	33
4. Kevin Phillips	Auburn	44.3	18
5. Corey Fatony	Missouri	43.7	38

Talal Elmasry

Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.