Want to know why I think our special teams have been among the worst units in the Big Ten over the last 5 years?  You do?  Sweet.  I’ma tell you.

I don’t think anybody owns their role.  OK, besides Aaron Gress.  And maybe Erique Robertson a few years ago before he went all wild west.  I watch other Big Ten teams, and it seems that their special teams units are units – guys who relish the fact that their role on the team is to blow up the long snapper after he lets go of the ball. The third string safety on Ohio State lives for the fact that he can take down a gunner.  The backup linebacker at Wisconsin dreams of wedge-busting in his sleep.

At Illinois?  I don’t see very much of that at all.  Our special teams are a hodge podge of starters and backups.  Jeff Cumberland’s job title last year was Outside WR/Inside WR/TE/Gunner (and he probably played his best at TE).  I know why we had him gunning on the punt team (freakish athlete).  But when he caught that ball and brought on the illegal touching penalty (against Northwestern, was it?), I couldn’t help but wonder if a non-starter who spent 40% of his time at practice downing punts would have been better in that role.  If we had trained Antonio Gully for three years as our primary punt team gunner, would he have made the same mistakes?  Did it really benefit us to stretch our best athletes so thin that they didn’t really know what their doing on special teams? (You know, besides Aaron Gress.)

There are 85 guys on the roster.  Let’s say that 30 of them are redshirting and/or too young to really contribute anything yet.  With 25 starters (including punter, kicker, and long snapper), that leaves 30 players that fall into the backup/specialists roles.  Yes, they’ll need tons of practice time at their position so that if /when their number is called, they’re ready.  But beyond that, I want to see us design specific tasks for each of these guys.

An example of this? Troy Pollard – Kickoff Return Specialist.  When Justin Green comes back, Pollard is likely our 4th or 5th tailback.  What about devoting 40% of his practice time to kickoff return?  What if when he studies film, he’s studying kick return blocking angles?  What if you sat him down right now and told him that kickoffs were going to be his specialty, and he needed to study as much kick return film between now and August as he could possibly watch?

A non-special teams example?  Justin Lattimore – Tight End In Space.  (In space, as in, like, out in the flat and seam routes – not in space). Teach him four routes, practice them over and over and over until the muscle memory clicks, and tell him that while he’s probably doesn’t have the strength yet to block a full-head-of-steam outside linebacker, he can play a role this year by running these four routes to perfection when called on.  Over and over and over.

I’m very encouraged by the steps we’ve made in this direction this spring.  I put “role players” on the original list, and then when spring ball started, we began to move in that direction. (Obviously a sign that someone from the staff Mission-Impossibled their way into my house and took pictures of the original chicken-scratch Plan).  We needed a big, mobile, blocking tight end, so we moved Andrew Carter there and told him that his specific role this year is a blocker on the corner.  We moved Justin Staples and Nate Palmer to “Bandit”, we appear to have more scat-back-y roles for our scat backs, and, at least when I’ve watched, we had less starters and more backups running with the special teams. Specialists.  I like it.

But of course I want more.  I want vision-casting meetings with each player after the spring game.  Whitney Mercilus, you’re Clay Nurse II.  Follow him, learn from him, emulate him, and take over for him next fall.  Antonio Gully, learn everything you can about being a gunner on the punt team.  Your specialty will be downing the ball inside the five.  Stay after practice with Anthony Santella and work on beating a blocker, flying to the punt returner, and reacting to short hops and odd bounces.  You’re not going to break the cornerback rotation, but you can be remembered in Illini lore by downing a punt at the two at Penn State.

Aaron Gress, do that thing you do.  Make Adam Rittenberg write an article entitled “Aaron Gress – The Big Ten’s Best Special Teamer”.  Lendell Buckner?  Your job is to use that giant frame to block one field goal this fall.  Trulon Henry?  You’re my corner guy on the punt block.  Practice it all summer, and go get your hand on one this fall.  Dustin Jefferson? Go bust up that wedge.  Wisdom Onyegbule?  Your name will be called on fourth and inches.  Stuff somebody.

I want each and every member of The 85 to be told A) What their specific role will be this fall, and B) What goal they should set before they leave Champaign.  As I’ve said in several of the other points (and as I wrote out in December when the disorganized mess of a season was fresh in my mind), I want more organization and purpose.  I want less penalties because there’s more focus.  I want less hectic and more paced; less frenzied and more calm.  And I think that one major step in that direction is to make sure every single player knows their role.

OK, 84 players.  Special Teams Imperial Centurion Aaron Gress already knows his role: seek and destroy.