alabamagrizzly
Well-known member
**Revision 2**
removed Joey Counts
**Revision 1**
added Caleb Lyons
Last but deffenetly not least, the special teams. Ohhh I miss Bobby. Not that Ross Brunnell and Jake Cookus are poor coaches. We did improve over last year( mabey only cus of Cookus), but were not as good as Bobby's last year (granted we had a pretty stacked team that year). In kickoff returns we improved from 11th to 7th last year but in 2009 we were 1st (Mariani). Punt returns have always been decent finishing 2nd in '09 and placing 3rd and 4th in '12 and '13. Punt coverage needs some work. In '13 we finished 5th in yards per punt average while finishing 7th in net punt coverage. In '09 we were 4th in yards per punt while finishing 2nd in net coverage. Someplace we greatly improved from '12 to '13 was PAT%. We finished 12th in '12 and 5th in '13. Mostly that was cus of the switch to Worst who didn't miss a PAT all year. If Ellis stays as the return specialist and Worst improves on last year, I think we will be ok. Expierience is always the main factor in most cases.
Projected 2014 depth chart
KR-Ellis Henderson Jr (2013- 21att 24.0avg 1td 98long)
Chase Naccarato Jr (2013- 7att 21.4avg 0td 28long)
John Nyugen So (2013- 3att 19.3avg 0td 21long)
PR-Ellis Henderson Jr (2013- 25att 12.2avg 0td 54long)
John Nyugen So (2013- 4att 0.2avg 0td 13long)
K-Ben Worst So (2013- 48/48PAT 9/17FG 75pts)
Chris Lider Jr (2013- 11/14PAT 1/2FG 14pts)
Harrison Greenberg So (2013- 0/0PAT 1/1FG 3pts)
P-Stephen Shaw Jr (2013- 49att 43.9avg 64long 15in20)
KOS-Chris Lider Jr (2013- 45att 62.5avg 13tb)
Ben Worst So (2013- 41att 60.7avg 8tb)
LS-Aaron Held So (2013- 11 games played)
Tonga Takai Sr
Hol-Matt Hermanson Sr
Return Specialist
Ellis Henderson. Only question here is if the coaches want to let him return and chance an injury. I say let him play. He finished 4th in the conference in kick returns last year averaging almost a quarter of the football feild every return and basically winning the South Dakota game (with some help from Hermanson) with a huge KR for a TD. He uped his avg from 21.2 his Fr year to 24.0 last year. The only reason I wouldn't start him is if someone eles steps up and equals or increases the production from that spot. As for punt returns, he led the conference with over 12 yards a return. Frankly, the mans' just to explosive to not put back there. Every time he goes back for a return, there's a chance he's takin' it to the house.
Chase Naccarato has primarily been the "other" KR while Ellis has taken the bulk of the returns. In the last two years he has returned 16 attempts for a 21.4 avg. He has the speed to bust big ones but so far his career long is only 29 yards. If he is to keep his #2 spot, then he's gonna have to step up or eles someone eles will move past him.
John Nyguen got a little time feilding kicks last year for Ellis cus I think Ellis was playin a little dinged up and they didn't want to chance further injury. He deffenetly has the same shiftiness his brother had and I would prefer to see him back there ahead of Naccarato. The only worry is if the fumbling issue on returns is genetic. If I remember correctly, he fumbled his first ever punt return, granted he was a true frosh. I would still expect big things from him.
Taylor Walcott is a guy that could see some returns but he almost seems to fragile to me with his 6'2" 177lb frame. If he's one of those players that gets hurt easily then we deffenetly don't want him on KR duty.
Chris Parker is someone eles I like to see given a chance. His numbers in high school were pretty darn impressive and if that can carry over to the next level then I say give him a shot. He averaged 37.4 yrds on five kick returns with a TD and 19.2 yrds on 19 punt returns with two TD's. I'm sure he'll atleast get a look in spring and fall and the coaches can judge from there. In 2016 we could see him and Nyguen returning kicks.
Caleb Lyons is going to be someone to watch out for. Hopefully he'll redshirt this year but I deffenetly see him getting reps a year or two down the line. Despite missing games with an injury his Sr year, he was still an all league KR and his Jr year he was all state.
Kicker
Ben Worst should start out the season as the starting FG kicker. His Fr season was very comparable to other great kickers we've had here. He was 9 of 17 on FG's where McKnights Fr year he was 9 of 16 and Chris Snyder was 12 of 21. Dan Carpenter was a little better at 18 of 29; all of which are below 70%. Worst was also 7 of 12 from 40+ yards which was better then McKights 2 of 3 and Snyders 4 of 9. I dont know what Carp's was but his long was 49 and Worst's is 50. He was also the only kicker in the conference to not miss a PAT while attempting the 2nd most at 48. McKight and Snyder missed 5 and 3. Carp was an amazing 62 of 62 his Fr year. Worst finished 8th in conference in pts 1st among K's with 75. He was also 4th in the conference in FG%. He did finish the year a little shakey but hopefully he will work on that during the offseason.
Chris Lider will start his Jr year as the backup and baring some drastic improvements, he will stay there. He started the year missing 3 of his first 14 PAT attempts and was quickly demoted. Unless Worst falls off I don't see Lider taking over. To give him credit he had a good Fr year hitting over 70% of his FG's and scoring 82 pts but he also missed 4 PAT's.
Harrison Greenberg plays the very rare role of a third string kicker. The returning So has attemted and converted one FG but had a good prep career. The Oregon native was first team all state Sr year and all league his Jr year. Having a strong leg, he led the state in touchback % but accuracy may be an issue where he missed 4 of his 89 PAT attempts. We may eventually see him transfer out.
Punter
Stephen Shaw is Stephen Shaw. The Jr is lookin at becoming one of the great ones here at Montana. He only finished 5th in the conference in avg yards per punt and the rest of his stats arn't eye popping but he always seems to come through in clutch situations. When ever we need to flip feild position he usually seems to come up with a 55 yard punt and when givin the chance to pin em deep, he's usually pretty good at that too. Amazingly the single season record at UM is only 44.7 so his So year avg was only 0.8 yards short. He also uped his average a full 2.1 yards from his Fr season. The career record is 42.56 and he currently stands at 42.8 so given he has two more years to improve his leg strength, I see that record becoming his.
Kickoff Specialist
Chris Lider will keep a starting job as the KOS. In 45 att he averaged 62.5yards 13 touchbacks. Not great numbers but they are the best in the team. Another year should improve some leg strength. Of course with the new rule of touchbacks comin out to the 25, mabey a stronger leg isn't a great option.
Ben Worth had almost as many kickoffs as Lider (41 to 45) but I remember Lider mostly kicking off the last part of the season. I don't know if they split for situational duties depending on the coverage called or if Lider just took over the job. He averaged two yards less a KO and had five less touchbacks then Lider.
Long Snapper
Aaron Held will be a So returning as the starting long snapper. He played in 11 games last year and as far as I remember he did very well. With three more years to fine tune his skills mabey he will follow in the footsteps of the great Guy Bingham.
Tonga Takai will be the back up in case Held falters and he may see time as a FG snapper. Other then that don't expect to see too much of him when the Griz got the ball.
Holder
I thought this might go to Gustufson since he's the only returning holder on the 2013 roster but grizfan95 reminded me that Matt Hermanson took over when Worst did, I'm assuming cus Worst is a different foot then Lider.
removed Joey Counts
**Revision 1**
added Caleb Lyons
Last but deffenetly not least, the special teams. Ohhh I miss Bobby. Not that Ross Brunnell and Jake Cookus are poor coaches. We did improve over last year( mabey only cus of Cookus), but were not as good as Bobby's last year (granted we had a pretty stacked team that year). In kickoff returns we improved from 11th to 7th last year but in 2009 we were 1st (Mariani). Punt returns have always been decent finishing 2nd in '09 and placing 3rd and 4th in '12 and '13. Punt coverage needs some work. In '13 we finished 5th in yards per punt average while finishing 7th in net punt coverage. In '09 we were 4th in yards per punt while finishing 2nd in net coverage. Someplace we greatly improved from '12 to '13 was PAT%. We finished 12th in '12 and 5th in '13. Mostly that was cus of the switch to Worst who didn't miss a PAT all year. If Ellis stays as the return specialist and Worst improves on last year, I think we will be ok. Expierience is always the main factor in most cases.
Projected 2014 depth chart
KR-Ellis Henderson Jr (2013- 21att 24.0avg 1td 98long)
Chase Naccarato Jr (2013- 7att 21.4avg 0td 28long)
John Nyugen So (2013- 3att 19.3avg 0td 21long)
PR-Ellis Henderson Jr (2013- 25att 12.2avg 0td 54long)
John Nyugen So (2013- 4att 0.2avg 0td 13long)
K-Ben Worst So (2013- 48/48PAT 9/17FG 75pts)
Chris Lider Jr (2013- 11/14PAT 1/2FG 14pts)
Harrison Greenberg So (2013- 0/0PAT 1/1FG 3pts)
P-Stephen Shaw Jr (2013- 49att 43.9avg 64long 15in20)
KOS-Chris Lider Jr (2013- 45att 62.5avg 13tb)
Ben Worst So (2013- 41att 60.7avg 8tb)
LS-Aaron Held So (2013- 11 games played)
Tonga Takai Sr
Hol-Matt Hermanson Sr
Return Specialist
Ellis Henderson. Only question here is if the coaches want to let him return and chance an injury. I say let him play. He finished 4th in the conference in kick returns last year averaging almost a quarter of the football feild every return and basically winning the South Dakota game (with some help from Hermanson) with a huge KR for a TD. He uped his avg from 21.2 his Fr year to 24.0 last year. The only reason I wouldn't start him is if someone eles steps up and equals or increases the production from that spot. As for punt returns, he led the conference with over 12 yards a return. Frankly, the mans' just to explosive to not put back there. Every time he goes back for a return, there's a chance he's takin' it to the house.
Chase Naccarato has primarily been the "other" KR while Ellis has taken the bulk of the returns. In the last two years he has returned 16 attempts for a 21.4 avg. He has the speed to bust big ones but so far his career long is only 29 yards. If he is to keep his #2 spot, then he's gonna have to step up or eles someone eles will move past him.
John Nyguen got a little time feilding kicks last year for Ellis cus I think Ellis was playin a little dinged up and they didn't want to chance further injury. He deffenetly has the same shiftiness his brother had and I would prefer to see him back there ahead of Naccarato. The only worry is if the fumbling issue on returns is genetic. If I remember correctly, he fumbled his first ever punt return, granted he was a true frosh. I would still expect big things from him.
Taylor Walcott is a guy that could see some returns but he almost seems to fragile to me with his 6'2" 177lb frame. If he's one of those players that gets hurt easily then we deffenetly don't want him on KR duty.
Chris Parker is someone eles I like to see given a chance. His numbers in high school were pretty darn impressive and if that can carry over to the next level then I say give him a shot. He averaged 37.4 yrds on five kick returns with a TD and 19.2 yrds on 19 punt returns with two TD's. I'm sure he'll atleast get a look in spring and fall and the coaches can judge from there. In 2016 we could see him and Nyguen returning kicks.
Caleb Lyons is going to be someone to watch out for. Hopefully he'll redshirt this year but I deffenetly see him getting reps a year or two down the line. Despite missing games with an injury his Sr year, he was still an all league KR and his Jr year he was all state.
Kicker
Ben Worst should start out the season as the starting FG kicker. His Fr season was very comparable to other great kickers we've had here. He was 9 of 17 on FG's where McKnights Fr year he was 9 of 16 and Chris Snyder was 12 of 21. Dan Carpenter was a little better at 18 of 29; all of which are below 70%. Worst was also 7 of 12 from 40+ yards which was better then McKights 2 of 3 and Snyders 4 of 9. I dont know what Carp's was but his long was 49 and Worst's is 50. He was also the only kicker in the conference to not miss a PAT while attempting the 2nd most at 48. McKight and Snyder missed 5 and 3. Carp was an amazing 62 of 62 his Fr year. Worst finished 8th in conference in pts 1st among K's with 75. He was also 4th in the conference in FG%. He did finish the year a little shakey but hopefully he will work on that during the offseason.
Chris Lider will start his Jr year as the backup and baring some drastic improvements, he will stay there. He started the year missing 3 of his first 14 PAT attempts and was quickly demoted. Unless Worst falls off I don't see Lider taking over. To give him credit he had a good Fr year hitting over 70% of his FG's and scoring 82 pts but he also missed 4 PAT's.
Harrison Greenberg plays the very rare role of a third string kicker. The returning So has attemted and converted one FG but had a good prep career. The Oregon native was first team all state Sr year and all league his Jr year. Having a strong leg, he led the state in touchback % but accuracy may be an issue where he missed 4 of his 89 PAT attempts. We may eventually see him transfer out.
Punter
Stephen Shaw is Stephen Shaw. The Jr is lookin at becoming one of the great ones here at Montana. He only finished 5th in the conference in avg yards per punt and the rest of his stats arn't eye popping but he always seems to come through in clutch situations. When ever we need to flip feild position he usually seems to come up with a 55 yard punt and when givin the chance to pin em deep, he's usually pretty good at that too. Amazingly the single season record at UM is only 44.7 so his So year avg was only 0.8 yards short. He also uped his average a full 2.1 yards from his Fr season. The career record is 42.56 and he currently stands at 42.8 so given he has two more years to improve his leg strength, I see that record becoming his.
Kickoff Specialist
Chris Lider will keep a starting job as the KOS. In 45 att he averaged 62.5yards 13 touchbacks. Not great numbers but they are the best in the team. Another year should improve some leg strength. Of course with the new rule of touchbacks comin out to the 25, mabey a stronger leg isn't a great option.
Ben Worth had almost as many kickoffs as Lider (41 to 45) but I remember Lider mostly kicking off the last part of the season. I don't know if they split for situational duties depending on the coverage called or if Lider just took over the job. He averaged two yards less a KO and had five less touchbacks then Lider.
Long Snapper
Aaron Held will be a So returning as the starting long snapper. He played in 11 games last year and as far as I remember he did very well. With three more years to fine tune his skills mabey he will follow in the footsteps of the great Guy Bingham.
Tonga Takai will be the back up in case Held falters and he may see time as a FG snapper. Other then that don't expect to see too much of him when the Griz got the ball.
Holder
I thought this might go to Gustufson since he's the only returning holder on the 2013 roster but grizfan95 reminded me that Matt Hermanson took over when Worst did, I'm assuming cus Worst is a different foot then Lider.
