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Tuesday, September 17, 2002

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Pitt spends the early part of each practice working on the various aspects of special teams -- kickoffs, field goals and extra points, punts, coverage and returns. It's been that way for years, since before Walt Harris took over as coach.

Coaches love to talk about the importance of the kicking game, and Pitt's special teams have gotten a lot of attention in recent seasons.

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In his early years as coach, Harris lamented the fact that depth issues forced the Panthers to play too many starters on too many special-teams units after they already had been pushed to play a great deal on offense or defense.

Last year, Harris defended Pitt's practice of using key starters on special teams after the team was deprived of star receiver Antonio Bryant, whose ankle was sprained the first time he touched the ball, on a return.

This year it isn't so much the personnel on special teams as it is the performance -- good and bad -- that's been in the news.

At times, the special teams have been a kick in the you-know-what for the Panthers. Witness two illegal-shift penalties that led to a much-discussed missed extra point in their 14-12 loss to Texas A&M. Or the two missed field goals, missed extra point and blocked punt returned for a touchdown in a 26-20 victory at UAB Saturday. And don't forget punt returns, where Pitt is averaging only 5 yards per attempt.

Harris acknowledges those problems but sees bright spots, too.

"Our special teams, other than those areas, have been very competitive," he said yesterday.

"Our kickoff return is good. Our kickoff coverage improved in that [UAB] game. Our punt return is probably the biggest area we've got to improve besides the consistency in our kicking on extra points and field goals."

Two of those bright spots have been punter Andy Lee and the kickoff returns of senior cornerback Torrie Cox.

Lee ranks fifth in the NCAA with an average of 45.6 yards per attempt. He boomed punts of 73 and 63 yards against Texas A&M. The one that was blocked last week at UAB was the result of a high snap and the Blazers' Roddy White coming free around the right side of Pitt's line.

Cox is leading the Big East Conference and is 10th in the NCAA with an average of 31.7 yards per kickoff return and was named Big East special teams player of the week for his performance against UAB, in which he accounted for 154 return yards, including runs of 50 and 46 yards. Three of his game-high nine tackles came on special teams.

Cox's punt-return teammate, freshman Billy Gaines, hasn't fared as well. Gaines has handled each of the Panthers' nine punt runbacks, with a long of only 9 yards. He also let two punts drop against Texas A&M when there might have been room to run.

"I think he catches the ball very well," Harris said. "He's got natural hands. We've just got to upgrade how we're blocking for him. Whether you try to catch some of those, that's just experience. But we're real pleased with him."

Inexperience is also a problem for place-kickers J.B. Gibboney and David Abdul.

Gibboney, a redshirt freshman and a walk-on, is 5 of 7 as the extra-point man, with one of his misses coming from 30 yards after the back-to-back penalties against Texas A&M. Abdul, a scholarship freshman, handles kickoffs and longer field goals.

Gibboney is 2 of 2 on field-goal attempts, hitting from 20 and 37 yards. Abdul is 2 of 4, with all his attempts longer than 40 yards.

The Panthers will continue to use both kickers, Harris said. Each week during pregame warm-ups, Gibboney and Abdul are evaluated for range and comfort at each end of the field to determine which one should be used for any particular field goal that game.

Harris doesn't hold the kickers completely responsible for some of the miscues.

"The kicker gets all the credit, kind of like the quarterback and the head coach," he said. "But sometimes it's more than that. I know with J.B.'s extra-point [miss at UAB], we didn't have a good hold or a clean catch-and-snap.

"Nobody likes to miss extra points or field goals. I know the kids are working at it."