BOULDER — George Frazier was stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place.
When the Colorado football team lined up for its first punt last Saturday against Michigan, Frazier had to make a split-second decision as to whether to block the Wolverine charging right at him or the one darting past his right shoulder. Frazier jolted to the right to handle the outside rusher, and Michigan’s Michael Jocz took advantage and darted unencumbered toward CU punter Alex Kinney, blocking a punt that teammate Grant Perry scooped for an easy touchdown.
The breakdown on the play came before Frazier found himself in a no-win situation, and it was one of many on special teams for the Buffaloes during their 45-28 loss.
As they begin Pac-12 Conference play at Oregon on Saturday afternoon, the Buffs’ special teams are firmly under the microscope.
“We’ll be much improved on it for the rest of the way and we definitely need to be,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said.
When CU wasn’t having its punts blocked or booted into the back of Kinney’s protection, low rugby-style kicks from Kinney often came in low and fast, leaving the Wolverines’ dangerous return man, Jabrill Peppers, with open space in front of him.
MacIntyre this week defended CU’s punting style, pointing out the success Utah’s Tom Hackett had with the approach the last few seasons. But he wasn’t shying away from criticism the unit faced after the Michigan game.
“A lot of teams do the exact same scheme,” MacIntyre said. “Utah’s punter has been the Ray Guy Award winner the past two years, and that’s all they do is rugby punt. It’s all about executing it. I wouldn’t like to rugby punt as much as we did in the game. We’ve corrected that and worked on it.”
The punt team won’t be the only unit leaving CU fans holding their breath. The Buffs will have a new place-kicker at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium on Saturday after losing Diego Gonzalez for the rest of the season because of an Achilles tendon injury.
Backup Chris Graham and freshman walk-on Davis Price engaged in a kicking competition all week, and MacIntyre said duties on kickoffs and field goals would be assigned near game time.
“We’ve kind of always handled every kick (in practice) like a competition,” said Graham, a junior who said he’s comfortable from as far as 55 yards on field-goal attempts. “It’s so black and white that you know when it’s a bad kick. Every kick is a competition for us.”
Gonzalez notched touchbacks on 16 of his 19 kickoffs, a major weapon in preventing big returns. Graham had kickoff duties in 2015, but Gonzalez’s improvement in that area earned him both roles this year.
Still, Graham believes he has also made strides in kicking the ball deep.
“I’m staying more upright, allowing my hips to get through the ball more,” he said. “I’m definitely getting more distance on it. I didn’t feel like I had a great year kicking off last year. I felt like I could have had more touchbacks. But we’ll see how it goes this year. I feel much more confident.”
