The Tennessean

With all the focus on running better and developing a tougher, more aggressive defense. Tennessee's special teams quietly have had an up-and-down spring.

Very much like the 2011 season.

Coach Derek Dooley says kicker Michael Palardy “looks like a different guy out there” this spring.

That’s good because Palardy battled inconsistency in 2011 while also sharing punting duties with Matt Darr. Palardy converted nine of 14 field goals in 2011 but hit just three of seven from 40 yards and longer. He did convert a 52-yarder against Alabama that was the Vols’ longest since Jeff Hall kicked a 53-yarder in 1995.

“He’s making a lot of progress. He’s been money on kickoffs,” Dooley said. “It wasn’t just moving him up five (yards), he’s got a real confident approach. He adjusted some things. The biggest thing we are ironing out on our field goals is we’ve got a new snapper and holder, and so there’s a lot of nuances that affect a kick.”

In February, the NCAA moved kickoffs from the 30-yard line to the 35 hoping to generate more touchbacks to ensure better player safety. The new rule also places the ball at the 25 after touchbacks instead of the 20.

Only six of Palardy’s 43 kickoffs were touchbacks last season.

Now a junior, Palardy knows it’s time to produce like most expected him to when he signed with the Vols as one of the top kickers in the country coming out of high school.

“I know coming into this year, being young, using age isn’t an excuse anymore,” Palardy said. “I have to come out here and prove to everyone and show them I can do it.”

Palardy has had his moments with the Vols. He executed an onside kick to himself against Cincinnati and completed a pass on a fake punt against Alabama for a first down. But an onside kick to start the second half against South Carolina trailing 7-3 didn’t work in what wound up a 14-3 loss.

Backup kicker Derrick Brodus is doing a “good job” this spring, too, Dooley said. Brodus appeared in one game last season for the Vols in unusual fashion.Against Middle Tennessee on Nov. 5, Brodus wasn’t dressed for the game and was at home an hour before kickoff. Palardy was out with an injury, and the second-string kicker was injured in warm-ups. Brodus got a police escort to Neyland Stadium, where he made his only field-goal attempt, a 21-yarder, and connected on all three extra points.

Palardy and Darr combined for a net punting average of 34.4 yards , ranking Tennessee 104th out of 120 FBS teams. Darr punted 40 times, with 10 downed inside the 20 while three went for more than 50 yards. Palardy had 14 punts and was mainly used when coaches wanted situational or directional kicking.

Like Palardy, Darr was a highly rated punter coming out of high school. The 6-foot-1, 214-pound Bakersfield, Calif., native also was a two-time state champion in the shot put.

Dooley said Darr has not had a good spring so far but added the redshirt sophomore has the ability.

“He’s working on his mechanics,and I think once he finds that consistent operation he’ll be fine.” Dooley said.

Devrin Young provided a spark in the return game after he missed the first three games recovering from a broken right collarbone that kept him out of fall practice. The 5-foot-8, 171-pounder averaged 23.3 yards per kickoff return and 11.8 yards per punt return. His career-long punt return of 40 yards was also his first career return. This year, coaches want Young to follow his blocks better and hesitate less. That might help a unit that hasn’t returned a kickoff or punt for a touchdown since 2004.

By PATRICK BROWN / Times Free Press

KNOXVILLE — There's been a change in the rules.

That doesn't mean Tennessee wants to change its ways.

The NCAA tweaked its rules regarding kickoffs for next season, but Charlie Coiner, the Volunteers' special teams coordinator, said after Wednesday morning's practice he'd like to keep most of UT's schemes the same.

"My observation from the outside coming [is we] had an extremely good kickoff team here last year. Really good," he said. "That's a credit to coach [Derek] Dooley and the guys that were coaching here. We want to build on that and try and keep as many things the same so that we can carry that over.

"There's enough things broken in this profession to where you have to fix them. If that's not, we want to keep as much the same as we can. We've addressed all the rule changes and spent a lot of time on that this spring."

The NCAA's playing rules oversight panel adopted two major changes in February. Teams will now kick off at the 35-yard line instead of the 30, and following touchbacks on free kicks, offenses will start on the 25 instead of the 20. Players on the kickoff coverage team also can't line up behind the 30, which will limit how much of a running start they could get.

The changes are aimed at increasing players' safety after the NCAA found that injuries occur during kickoffs more than any other time during games.

The Vols were seventh nationally in kickoff-return yardage allowed last season, despite totaling just six touchbacks. UT was 41st national and fifth in the SEC in kickoff-return yardage.

"It affects us, but it affects everybody," Coiner said. "Coach Dooley and I have spent a lot of time on kickoffs." You start not only looking at how it affects you, but you look at how it's going to affect your opponent and how they're going to handle it.

"Maybe you've got a better chance of kicking the ball deep every time into the end zone. Maybe you don't. Maybe what you want to do is pun that thing back in the corner."

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee appears close to having just one vacancy left to fill on its football coaching staff, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

A source inside the Volunteers' program confirmed to the newspaper on Thursday afternoon that former NFL and North Carolina assistant Charlie Coiner is in line to be UT's special teams coordinator. The school has yet to officially confirm the hire, but Coiner would replace Eric Russell, who left UT last month and was officially named special teams coordinator and assistant head coach at Washington State.

Coiner has more than one connection to two of the Vols' coach Derek Dooley's most recent hires. He most recently coached defensive line in 2010 at North Carolina, where new UT offensive line coach Sam Pittman was an assistant for five seasons (2007-11). Coiner also spent three seasons (1995-97) as the tight ends coach at Louisville alongside new UT defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri, who was the Cardinals' linebackers coach. Coiner spent three seasons at Austin Peay, including one season under new UT defensive line coach John Palermo in 1990.

Following his time at Louisville, Coiner coached linebackers at UT Chattanooga and special teams at LSU for one season each. He was the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and special teams coach at Texas Southern in 2000 before joining the Chicago Bears' staff as the offensive quality control coach for four seasons.

He spent four years with the Buffalo Bills as the special teams coach before he was hired at North Carolina. Coiner spent three years under Gerry DiNardo at Vanderbilt (1991-93).

By Patrick Brown / Chattanooga Times Free Press

KNOXVILLE — The adage says if a football team has two quarterbacks, it really has none.

Tennessee extended that saying to punters in last week's loss to Arkansas, when Matt Darr had one punt returned for a touchdown and Michael Palardy's two punts went 12 and 27 yards.

"The rotating deal didn't work out too good," UT special teams coordinator Eric Russell said after Wednesday morning's indoor practice. "You'd like to have one guy settle down and be your guy. Can we do that yet? I don't know. How do these guys come out of ruts? I don't know."

Darr, the redshirt freshman, is the Volunteers' hangtime punter, while Palardy, the sophomore who handles field goals, extra points and kickoffs, is a more effective directional kicker. Coach Derek Dooley has said he bases decision on his "feel" in addition to the situation.

Both have had moments good and bad this season. Darr averaged more than 40 yards per punt against Florida and Georgia, but he had a 29-yarder against Buffalo, a short one that Georgia turned into a go-ahead touchdown and the one Joe Adams returned last week. Palardy averaged 40 yards on five punts against Alabama while limiting, but he had one blocked at and another nearly returned at Florida.

"For me and Matt, it's hard to find a rhythm," Palardy said. "When we're switching in and out, punt after punt or he's does three punts and I do two punts, it's hard to find a rhythm. It's kind of hard to get the production that we need if can't get a rhythm and figure out what the wind is doing and all that kind of stuff. We just do whatever we have to do to help the team out."

Dooley said after the game that his punters have a net on the sideline with which to stay in rhythm and just need to go out and punt. Russell said the punters have the time before the rest of the team takes the field before games to work out factors such as the wind.

"[We'd] like Matt to win the job and be consistent week in and week out, not only just on his kicking, but his operation and his approach," Russell said. "[It's] just like anywhere. Let's say you're switching quarterbacks: it's hard, but it's hard to put all your eggs in one basket when you haven't seen one guy clearly say, 'Hey, it's my job.'"

By Trey Williams / Johnson City News

MORRISTOWN — Science Hill will be kicking itself over its loss at Morristown West on Friday.

The Hilltoppers gave up a safety when their opening-series punt was blocked out of the end zone, missed a PAT off the right upright that would’ve put them ahead 20-19 with 10:55 left in the game and watched West’s Jose Rico make his second field goal of the night on the game’s final play for a 22-19 Trojans victory.

Rico’s game-winner, a 27-yarder, came after Science Hill had called three straight timeouts in an attempt to freeze him. Rico also made a 46-yarder to give West a 19-6 lead with 1:43 left in the first half.

“Jose is a great kicker,” Morristown West coach Lamar Brown said. “Those were his first two field goals this season. He’d been in a slump. He was 0-for-5 coming in.”

West’s game-winning drive began at Science Hill’s 43-yard line after a diving interception by Jarek Berry with 2:42 left.

Berry also batted down a pass on a 4th-and-1 play-action pass at the Morristown West 30 with 61⁄2 minutes remaining and the score tied at 19, and gave the Trojans a 9-0 lead with a 1-yard TD run with nine minutes left in the first quarter.

“He had a heck of a night tonight,” Brown said. “He had two game-changing plays.”

The Hilltoppers, who fell to 2-2 on the season, outgained the Trojans (4-0), 446 to 294. West got 77 of its yards essentially after the catch on Jerimia Gregg’s 77-yard TD reception from Andrew Lee, which gave the Trojans a 16-3 lead with 1:51 left in the first quarter.

Science Hill outgained West 307-98 in the second half.

“We had our hurry-up thing going,” Science Hill coach Stacy Carter said. “I mean we had them. They were tired. They were given out. … The safety, the extra point — we know what beat us.”

The blocked punt came when Justin Sammons broke clean through the interior of the line and batted the ball from around the 15-yard line backward through the end zone after Science Hill opened the game with a three-and-out.

PATs have been an adventure all season for the Hilltoppers, often due to protection issues. kicker Perry Murdaugh did make a 20- and 30-yard field goal Friday, and 1 of 2 PATs.

“We kicked a couple of field goals and did some good things on special teams,” Carter said. “But they bit us. … We’ve got a good football team; we’ve just got to straighten out some stuff. I just hate to let that one go. I guarantee you we won total offense — killed them, probably.”

Science Hill also turned the ball over with 71⁄2 minutes in the third quarter when it mishandled a shotgun/jet sweep exchange on 1st-and-goal from the 6.

That looked like the play that would break the Hilltoppers’ will, but it seemed to somehow motivate them. Hilltoppers quarterback Justin Snyder was 22-of-34 passing for 265 yards. He also rushed 14 times for 105 yards.

He connected with Aaron Greene seven times for 115 yards, including a 37-yard catch to the Morristown West on 3rd-and-12 on the first play of the fourth quarter. One play later, Jahmar Adams’ 17-yard reception advanced the ball to the West 2, and Adams scored on the following play to make the score 19-19. That’s when the PAT hit high off the right upright.

Jamal Stephens’ 1-yard run and Murdaugh’s PAT got Science Hill within 19-13 with 2:06 left in the third quarter. Greene had a 25-yard catch to the Hilltoppers’ 45 on 3rd-and-11 to begin that drive.

Science Hill’s defense was impressive, particularly in the second half. Tackles for loss or minimal gains came frequently from the likes of Bryson DeJesus, Grant Janeway, Isaiah Stephens and Tate Isbell. O’Ryen Scott led the ’Toppers with 10 tackles and recovered a fumble.

“They played their butts off,” Carter said. “I’m proud of the kids. They deserved to win that game. …

“There ain’t no moral victory, but I mean how can you be mad at kids who played their butt off like that — even with the mistakes we made. They fought. And we had it. We just didn’t finish.”

Todd Page-Gilmore had three catches for 50 yards. Adams and Will Craig had three catches apiece, too.

Tyler Brooks rushed 16 times for 122 yards for West. Lee was 5-of-18 passing for 115 yards. Lee, who will play baseball at Tennessee, also punted seven times for a 45.7-yard average.

Austin Greene had 21 tackles for the Trojans.

By Patrick Brown / Times Free Press

KNOXVILLE—Tennessee is replacing its field-goal kicker and its punter, and the Volunteers still have to find a punt returner who can at least catch kicks.

Thus it’s not surprising that UT special teams coach Eric Russell is a busy man this spring practice.

“Last year was embarrassing. It really was,” Russell said after practice last Thursday of the Vols’ woefully inept punt-return game from last fall. “It wasn’t a lack of effort — we just weren’t very good at it. I’ve never seen anything like it. We’ll get there, though.”

UT went through five different punt returners last season, though by the campaign’s latter stages the Vols sometimes wouldn’t even put anyone back there because they couldn’t find anyone to become reliable at simply catching the ball.

The job is wide open this spring with a number of guys getting chances. Cornerbacks Anthony Anderson and Justin Coleman and receivers Justin Hunter, Da’Rick Rogers and Vincent Dallas are among the group catching kickoff after kickoff and punt after punt at the start of each spring practice.

Though an incoming freshmen like Devrin Young, DeAnthony Arnett or any of a group of defensive backs the Vols signed could provide a spark in that area, Russell said he’d prefer to find a reliable returner by the end of spring.

“I hope we can find somebody in this group that we think can [do it], because it’s kind of scary to run a brand new guy out there in Neyland [Stadium] or anywhere, for that matter, in that opener,” he said.

“We want have an idea to where it’s narrowed down so then we can mix in some of the newcomers and really gear it down to where we’ve got a couple guys [who can handle kick returns]. ... We want to leave spring just feeling confident that we’re going to get the thing fielded and be fundamentally right in it. They’re going to get plenty of opportunities this spring and we’re going to catch a lot of balls and we’ll see.”

As for the Vols’ own specialists, Michael Palardy could possibly handle all the placekicking and punting duties, though that will depend on the development of punter Matt Darr, who redshirted last year. Palardy made five of his seven field-goal attempts last season as a freshman, averaged 39 yards on four punts and kicked off 45 times.

“We’d love [for] Mike for sure to grasp being a consistent field-goal kicker right now,” Russell said. “He’s going to compete [for all three kicking jobs]. We’re going to see where it all falls. Right now Matt’s running with the [first-team] punt, but it’s going to come down to who performs and competes there, not only this spring but then through the summer and fall camp.”

The sturdy, 215-pound Darr was the nation’s top-rated punter out of high school two years ago and a shot-putter on UT’s track team.

“What Matt’s got to understand,” Russell said, “is the mental aspect of things and getting ready to play. ... We’re trying to shorten him up a little bit, trying to speed him up some, because leg [strength] is not going to be the issue. I think he’s stronger, I think he’s a little more athletic [and] I think he’s started to concentrate a little bit more fundamentally on some technique stuff.”