Arizona football roster reset: Wildcats seek to improve middling special teams

Editor’s note: This is the last in a three-part series examining what might have been — and could still be — for Arizona Wildcats football after the Pac-12 postponed the fall season. Today: special teams.

The perception among Arizona football fans is that special teams haven’t been any better under Kevin Sumlin than they were under Rich Rodriguez — and might actually be worse.

Is that true?

As we began to examine the shape of the special-teams units heading into the 2021 restart (whenever it should happen), we decided to first take a look back to answer that question. We compared the Wildcats’ special teams from the last two years of the RichRod era (2016-17) to the first two years of the Sumlin era (2018-19) in several statistical categories.

The conclusion: The special teams have improved in some areas and gotten worse in others. The net difference has been negligible. Overall, the units haven’t been a consistent team strength.

Here is some data from our research:

Kickoff-return average in 2016-17: 21.1 yards. In 2018-19: 20.1.
Punt-return average in 2016-17: 8.1 yards. In 2018-19: 8.6.
Opponent kickoff-return average in 2016-17: 20.6 yards. In 2018-19: 21.7. It’s important to note here that, thanks to the strong leg of kicker Lucas Havrisik, Arizona has greatly reduced the number of returns the past two seasons (and, to a slightly lesser extent, the previous one).
Opponent punt-return average in 2016-17: 11.7 yards. In 2018-19: 7.8. This is by far the biggest different in any return category. However …
Arizona’s net punting has not noticeably improved, if at all. The only time the Wildcats ranked better than 76th in the country in net punting came in 2018, when graduate transfer Dylan Klumph helped them to a No. 34 national standing. They ranked 129th (out of 129) in 2017 and 125th last year.
Field-goal percentage in 2016-17: 69.7. In 2018-19: 65.9. Last year’s 58.8% mark was the worst of the past four seasons.
Net blocks in 2016-17: minus-5. In 2018-19: minus-1. The only year when the difference was greater than one was 2017 (minus-5).
Net touchdowns in 2016-17: plus-1. In 2018-19: plus-1.

So where does all that leave the UA special teams heading into 2021? Below is our position-by-position breakdown.

Placekickers

Havrisik is an enigma. His kicking power is NFL worthy, as evidenced by his 171 touchbacks over the past three seasons. Havrisik has a 74.6% touchback rate as a Wildcat.

Havrisik also has made four field goals of 50-plus yards in his career, including a school-record-tying 57-yarder as a freshman in 2017.

However, his overall success rate is just 59.4%. Since making 3 of 4 field-goal attempts as a freshman, Havrisik has gone just 16 of 28 (57.1%), including a 0-for-2 performance in last year’s finale at Arizona State (a game Arizona lost by 10 points).

The reasons behind Havrisik’s inconsistency aren’t entirely clear. Sumlin has dropped hints about minor injury issues. Havrisik also has been working on his mental game (as all kickers must).

Havrisik entered 2020 as a fourth-year senior, so he could take advantage of a possible double season in ’21 to get valuable game reps and turns those misses into makes. If Havrisik struggles, though, Arizona has added legitimate competition to the mix.

Tyler Loop of Lovejoy High School, in Lucas, Texas, arrives as a three-star recruit and the No. 10 kicker in the 2020 class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. In the short term, Loop is expected to push Havrisik. In the long term, Loop is expected to succeed him.

Punters

Loop also punted in high school, so he should provide needed competition at this position as well. But if all goes according to plan, Kyle Ostendorp will be the Wildcats’ punter in 2021 and beyond.

Ostendorp, the No. 11 punter in the ’19 class, was erratic as a freshman. He averaged 39.7 yards on 21 punts, including five that traveled 50-plus yards. But his ratio of punts downed inside the 20-yard line to touchbacks was just 4-2, and he didn’t consistently flip the field.

Ostendorp has drawn praise for his work ethic, and people within the program are confident he’ll come around. The results haven’t been there yet, albeit in a relatively small sample size.

Arizona has one other punt on the roster: walk-on Jacob Meeker-Hackett, a transfer from Texas State who attended Cienega High School.

Return specialists

Arizona no longer has the services of primary kickoff returner J.J. Taylor, who averaged 23.6 yards last season. But the Wildcats have plenty of candidates to succeed him in that role.

The most logical one is speedy senior Tayvian Cunningham, who averaged 19.7 yards on seven returns in 2019. Cunningham returned six kickoffs for touchdowns in junior college.

Fellow receiver Jamarye Joiner dabbled as a kickoff return last season and came within inches of returning one for a score at the end of the first half against Colorado. Joiner also became the main punt returner and looked natural in the role. He averaged 8.1 yards on seven returns.

He has the ability to be a multidimensional weapon for the Wildcats.

Another veteran with punt-returning experience is receiver Brian Casteel, who ripped off a 42-yard return against NAU. Casteel’s judgment wasn’t always the soundest, though, and he ceded the job to Joiner.

Every skill-position newcomer will be given an opportunity to return kicks in practice. The most alluring player in that group is Frank Brown Jr., who ran the 100 meters in 10.99 seconds and the 200 in 21.86 as a junior at Sterling High School in Houston.

When Brown and his fellow freshmen get the chance to show what they can do remains to be seen. Arizona and the other teams not playing this fall will be limited to 12 hours of work per work. That includes five hours on the field with helmets but no pads.