South Florida Football: 5 reasons why Bulls will stink in 2017
By Zach Bigalke
3. Terrible kick and punt protection could cost Bulls a game or two
In 2016, special teams were a sore spot for South Florida. Placekicker Emilio Nadelman injured his kicking leg in the game against Navy. The injury forced Nadelman to sit out the final three games of the year. A redshirt senior, the kicker has the leg to drive from 50-plus yards out and great accuracy on both extra points (52-of-53 in 2016) and field goals (7-of-7 in 2016).
Nadelman didn’t sustain contact when he was injured. But he still worked behind a special teams group that did a poor job of protecting both kicks and punts last year. The Bulls allowed opponents to block three kicks and a punt in 2016, costly coverage mistakes that put USF at a disadvantage throughout the season.
With a new coaching staff, the unit could go one of two ways. Special teams coach Justin Burke could get the group to focus on preventing opponents from getting penetration on kicking and punting plays. More likely, though, is that a veteran group is going to continue to make gaffes in critical moments.
It isn’t likely that Nadelman or punter Jonathan Hernandez will be injured as a direct result of the group protecting them. But they could see a couple of their efforts blocked again in 2017 as a result of poor blocking. Those errors could be the difference between perfection and falling out of conference contention.