Barion Brown’s return ability worries Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky’s special teams have been far from special this year.
Missed kicks, bad snaps, blocked kicks, blown protections and even inconsistent coverage at times.
However, here’s some good needs special teams-wise going into Saturday afternoon’s game at Missouri.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz is worried about his team’s kickoff coverage and that could be good news for UK freshman Barion Brown, who has 329 yards and a touchdown on nine returns this season.
“I think they’re the most explosive return team in college football, probably them and South Carolina,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “We’re not where we need to be covering kicks. We’re inconsistent at best.”
Missouri ranks fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in opponent kickoff returns. It has not allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown but Drinkwitz is worried about a lot of issues his team has had in kickoff coverage.
Inconsistent ball placement from kicker Sean Koetting has been a problem.
“Our coverage unit can’t rely on Sean kicking a touchback every time,” Drinkwitz said. “They’ve got to take every approach like, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to go tackle this inside the 20,’” Drinkwitz said.
“So that’s kind of a point of emphasis this week, and I think you’ll also see some changes to the personnel on kickoff as we continue to create competition.”
So maybe this is the week Brown — or Tayvion Robinson — breaks a kickoff return.
Of course, there is one downside. If Missouri is kicking off a lot, then that means the Tigers are scoring a lot.
