Decisive plays against Minnesota highlight special teams importance for Michigan

As a former minor league baseball player, Michigan football special teams coordinator J.B. Brown sticks to what he knows. 

When coaching his unit, Brown likes to add a baseball spin to the football he’s teaching. For example, when telling the punt-blockers to keep their eyes on the ball while rushing, he compares it to hitters needing to keep their eyes on the pitch the entire time it’s coming at them. Batters can’t pull their heads away at any point if they want to hit the ball, and neither can special teams rushers if they want to block a punt. 

On Saturday against Minnesota, senior edge rusher Kechaun Bennett took heed of Brown’s instructions. He kept his eyes on the ball, and he got through to the backfield. 

“What happened was, I’m on the line, I get lined up, I get off the ball,” Bennett said Tuesday. “I see the person (line up to) block me, but then he moves out of the way. So I’m getting ready to brace for contact, and then once I lift my head up, I see the kicker. He’s got the ball, so next thing I know, I just jump up.” 

Bennett jumped up, and he made contact with Golden Gophers punter Mark Crawford’s kick. Senior linebacker Christian Boivin recovered the loose ball and returned it to Minnesota’s 11-yard line, and the 10th-ranked Wolverines scored a touchdown on the very next play. 

To put a baseball spin on it, Bennett hit a home run. But later in the game, Michigan’s special teams unit made a crucial error, too. 

With 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines had some trouble tackling Gophers punt returner Koi Perich. He made two Michigan defenders run into each other, split the middle of a group of four others and broke two tackles, including one by senior punter Tommy Doman. By the time the Wolverines forced Perich out of bounds, he had reached their 17-yard line. Minnesota scored a touchdown just three plays later. 

Together, Bennett’s blocked punt and Perich’s return highlight the importance of special teams to determining the outcome of a game. Offense and defense get most of the attention, but they aren’t the only two phases. 

“Special teams can make or break a game,” Bennett said. “… Saturday, the blocked punt, if they were able to get the ball off, put us in bad field position, it could be totally different than what happened. Me blocking the punt, we were able to score a touchdown.”

Though special teams gets noticed for those home-run plays, there are also plenty of important plays that set up teammates to finish the job, comparable to moving a runner over in baseball. Bennett hinted at wanting to make sure the offense isn’t put in bad field position, which holds even more importance when helping an offense that’s struggling like Michigan’s unit currently is. 

That applies to setting up the defense well, too. The Wolverines’ defense has been on the field a lot in the second half of games, so the least the special teams unit can do is give it more field to work with. Doing that relies on Doman’s leg, but it also requires support from every member of the punt team. 

And when trying to move forward as a unit, Michigan’s special teams is choosing to focus on the positive plays, not the errors. 

“The good, we always want to keep front of mind,” Bennett said. “If there’s bad, it’s always a next-play mentality.”

That one-play mentality — or a one-pitch mentality, in Brown’s terms — keeps the Wolverines’ special teams unit from dwelling on its mistakes. Michigan knows how important the third phase of the game can be, and that mentality helps the Wolverines’ special teams set up the other two phases, instead of leaving them stranded. 

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