UCLA Football Spring Practice Preview 2018: Special Teams
Go Joe Bruin finishes the Spring Practice Preview as we look at the situation with the special teams who returns a lot of experience and who we hope can improve under the new coaching regime.
The Special Teams unit for the UCLA football team this year could closely resemble the one that was out there last season. This could be both good and bad. On one hand, JJ Molson returns after a sophomore year that saw a marked improvement in both his accuracy and confidence. But on the other hand, the punt return team that gained a total of 73 return yards during conference play is also back.
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UCLA returns both kickers along with their main punt and kickoff returners so new coach Chip Kelly could choose to keep the personnel the same or go in an entirely different direction on special teams. So with the start of spring practice less than a week away, here is a look at what I think the Bruins’ Special Teams unit could look like this season.
Place Kicker
In his sophomore year, Molson showed why he was a top rated kicker coming out of high school two years ago. The Canada native hit on 17 of his 21 field goal attempts, including a season long 45 yarder against Stanford. His 81% success rate on field goals was good for third in the PAC-12. That was an improvement from his freshman year when he was a disappointing 12 for 20. On extra points, Molson also impressed with a near perfect 49 out of 50.
On kickoffs, Molson put the ball into the end zone only 40% of the time. Not terrible as his 34 total touchbacks were in the top third in the nation (37th), but it was the kickoff coverage that constantly hurt the Bruins. On Molson’s 48 returnable kickoffs, opponents racked up 1,172 yards. That’s an average of 24.4 yards per return and fifth worst in the nation. If Molson really wants to improve his game this year, he needs to put more kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. This will not only reduce the risk of injury (all Bruins fans know how injuries can devastate a defense) for the kickoff team but it will show NFL scouts that Molson has the leg to eventually move on to the next level.
JJ Molson is a talented kicker who, if he repeats the off season improvement he had a year ago, could be one of the top kickers in the nation. This is Molson’s job to lose and I don’t see him giving it up during the season.