University of Memphis Athletics
Tigers coach Mike Norvell has a springtime decision to make.
Photo by: Matthew Smith
Top spring battle? Special teams getting kick out of this competition
Mar 23, 2018 | Football
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – When the University of Memphis ends football practice in mid-April, perhaps the biggest competition of the spring's 15 NCAA-allotted workouts will have been decided.
Brady Davis or David Moore or Brady White?
While the battle to replace two-year starting quarterback Riley Ferguson holds some intrigue, there may be more interest – at least among those involved with special teams – in the race to find who takes deep snaps on fourth-and-long.
After four years of having the luxury of two punters – Spencer Smith and Nick Jacobs – the Tigers will spend the next few weeks grooming a replacement. And filling the kicking shoes of Smith and Jacobs will not be easy.
Smith, from Newnan, Ga., and Jacobs, from Melbourne, Australia, were extremely effective in their roles.
Smith earned a spot on the All-American Athletic Conference first team in 2015 and 2016 and was selected to the second team in 2014. He was included on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award (given annually to the nation's top punter) on two occasions.
As for Jacobs, he was an adept pooch-punter with a knack for placing kicks inside the opposition's 20-yard line. Fifty of his 66 career punts landed inside the 20.
Their departures leave special teams coach Joe Lorig with the task of accelerating the evaluation of two candidates: redshirt junior Aidan Daily of Aptos, Calif., and redshirt freshman Adam Williams of Lebanon, Tenn.
"Losing two seniors is not ideal, but we planned ahead," Lorig said. "But that's why you plan in advance. We've had two guys in the program for a year to fill that (opening). We think both of those guys are going to compete and do really, really well."
Lorig said Williams, who is 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, is capable of stepping into the role. Daily, who is left-footed, was one of the top punters in the country before he broke his ankle.
"He's had a good road to recovery," Lorig said. "I think both of those guys are going to really compete."
Smith averaged 47.2 yards per punt in 2015 and 45.1 in 2016. As a team, the Tigers averaged 39.7 net yards per punt last season and Jacobs averaged 41.7 yards on his 24 punts.
"I thought we were pretty good last year, not great," Lorig said. "We were a little bit inconsistent at times. But anytime you lose guys with that kind of experience, it's not so much you can't replace the talent or the leg, it's more losing the experience of having (punted) in big games, on the road, in different weather conditions. In college football, there's just no substitute for experience."
Lorig said Williams and Daily possess the ability to contribute. It will simply require acclimating themselves to the college game.
"This spring we will put them in as many of those adverse conditions as we can possibly manufacture," Lorig said. "You can't manufacture 60,000 people in the Liberty Bowl and playing on ESPN, but we'll put them under as many pressure situations as we possibly can."
Lorig hopes the competition for the starting punter is intense throughout the spring, but added he wouldn't mind using two punters, especially since having a left-footed and right-footed punter can create problems for opponents.
Tiger coach Mike Norvell, whose punt team ranked second in the conference last season, is looking forward to the battle. He expects the scrimmages and the spring game on April 13 to factor heavily into the decision on how Daily and Williams are used.
"I'm excited about the competition we'll have there," Norvell said. "We're going to create a lot of those pressure-packed situations in practice in every scrimmage we have. You've got to see if guys can show they can do it. I'm looking forward to that."
Brady Davis or David Moore or Brady White?
While the battle to replace two-year starting quarterback Riley Ferguson holds some intrigue, there may be more interest – at least among those involved with special teams – in the race to find who takes deep snaps on fourth-and-long.
After four years of having the luxury of two punters – Spencer Smith and Nick Jacobs – the Tigers will spend the next few weeks grooming a replacement. And filling the kicking shoes of Smith and Jacobs will not be easy.
Smith, from Newnan, Ga., and Jacobs, from Melbourne, Australia, were extremely effective in their roles.
Smith earned a spot on the All-American Athletic Conference first team in 2015 and 2016 and was selected to the second team in 2014. He was included on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award (given annually to the nation's top punter) on two occasions.
As for Jacobs, he was an adept pooch-punter with a knack for placing kicks inside the opposition's 20-yard line. Fifty of his 66 career punts landed inside the 20.
Their departures leave special teams coach Joe Lorig with the task of accelerating the evaluation of two candidates: redshirt junior Aidan Daily of Aptos, Calif., and redshirt freshman Adam Williams of Lebanon, Tenn.
"Losing two seniors is not ideal, but we planned ahead," Lorig said. "But that's why you plan in advance. We've had two guys in the program for a year to fill that (opening). We think both of those guys are going to compete and do really, really well."
Lorig said Williams, who is 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, is capable of stepping into the role. Daily, who is left-footed, was one of the top punters in the country before he broke his ankle.
"He's had a good road to recovery," Lorig said. "I think both of those guys are going to really compete."
Smith averaged 47.2 yards per punt in 2015 and 45.1 in 2016. As a team, the Tigers averaged 39.7 net yards per punt last season and Jacobs averaged 41.7 yards on his 24 punts.
"I thought we were pretty good last year, not great," Lorig said. "We were a little bit inconsistent at times. But anytime you lose guys with that kind of experience, it's not so much you can't replace the talent or the leg, it's more losing the experience of having (punted) in big games, on the road, in different weather conditions. In college football, there's just no substitute for experience."
Lorig said Williams and Daily possess the ability to contribute. It will simply require acclimating themselves to the college game.
"This spring we will put them in as many of those adverse conditions as we can possibly manufacture," Lorig said. "You can't manufacture 60,000 people in the Liberty Bowl and playing on ESPN, but we'll put them under as many pressure situations as we possibly can."
Lorig hopes the competition for the starting punter is intense throughout the spring, but added he wouldn't mind using two punters, especially since having a left-footed and right-footed punter can create problems for opponents.
Tiger coach Mike Norvell, whose punt team ranked second in the conference last season, is looking forward to the battle. He expects the scrimmages and the spring game on April 13 to factor heavily into the decision on how Daily and Williams are used.
"I'm excited about the competition we'll have there," Norvell said. "We're going to create a lot of those pressure-packed situations in practice in every scrimmage we have. You've got to see if guys can show they can do it. I'm looking forward to that."
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