MORGANTOWN — The often-overlooked third phase of football, special teams, will look a lot different this year as WVU tries to replace several key contributors from last year’s team.
The biggest difference will be on the field goal team, as WVU will need to replace Casey Legg, who left as one of the most productive placekickers in team history.
Legg, the high school soccer player from Cross Lanes Christian in Charleston, finished his career seventh all-time with 40 made field goals as a Mountaineer.
Battling for the kicker spot this spring is Georgia State transfer Michael Hayes and redshirt sophomore Danny King.
“Michael’s done a really good job,” WVU special teams coordinator Jeff Koonz said Tuesday. “He was really, really productive where he was before he came here. I’m excited about him, he’s got experience and he’s kicked in a live setting in front of a big crowd and big atmosphere. The cool thing is, Danny King is competing with him and is having the best spring that he’s had since I’ve been here. I feel really good about where we’re going to come out of spring and fall camp.”
Hayes doubled as a punter and kicker for Georgia State but is focusing on placekicking with the Mountaineers. He made 11 of 14 field goals for GSU last season. King has not seen the field in three years at WVU.
Koonz said evaluating kickers includes looking at technique and timing, but ultimately it comes down to who can put the ball between the uprights. Kickoff specialist Parker Grothaus also graduated after last season, another opening for Hayes and King to see action.
“I think it’s like anything else, you try to instruct, you try to give them their cues, you try to give them what they’re focused on and every swing you want to be as consistent as possible,” Koonz said. “But at the end of the day, they’ve got to put the ball between the uprights, they’ve got to put it in the endzone on kickoffs and they’ve got to have the hang time.”
Helping the kickers this offseason has been WVU’s implementation of a TrackMan system that can analyze every one of their kicks and provide instant feedback on a number of different areas. It’s the same system used by NFL teams and on NFL TV broadcasts and is similar to what is used on the PGA Tour and in MLB ballparks.
To be one of the only schools in the country that has that…they have really, really dove into that and that’s something we’re really excited about. The guys are embracing that and that’s really cool,” Koonz said. “Now it doesn’t take two days to get it corrected. We don’t watch it on film, they see it instantaneously and now they can go to work on that in two seconds.”
The one returning specialist for WVU is sophomore punter Oliver Straw. The Australian excelled during his first year at WVU, averaging 42.3 yards per punt and placing 17 inside opponents’ 20-yard line.
“I think we really figured out what he was going to be good at early on and we really hung our hat on what he was going to be good at,” Koonz said. “He has the ability to do so many different things, but to ask him as a first-year player at a Power 5 conference to do all of those things at an elite level, it’s not fair to him. We’ll be able to add some more on him (this year).”
Also back is long snapper Austin Brinkman, who Koonz said has a special connection with Straw that helped both succeed last season.
While Straw will continue to punt, the people running downfield to cover those punts will be different. Two of WVU’s best kick coverage players from recent years, Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Sam James, are currently pursuing the NFL. Koonz said their dedication to special teams work has inspired young players to follow in their footsteps.
“The exciting thing about that is, we have a ton of young guys who are ready to fill into those roles,” Koonz said. “You’ve got two upperclassmen who are training to have a shot to live their dream at the next level and both of those guys improved their stock because of what they did on special teams. Bryce Ford-Wheaton didn’t come here to cover punts, he came here to catch touchdowns and be explosive, but he did his job and he did it at a really, really high level and that’s going to help him. The young guys have seen that, the transfer we have brought in have seen that.”
There will also be a new face at returner, where Kent State transfer Ja’Shaun Poke is expected to make an immediate impact.
“That’s something that we identified this year in the (transfer) portal, trying to bring in some skill, whether it be in the secondary or at receiver, that also had return skills,” Koonz said. “Off of film, he’s got exactly what you want, he’s got legit, raw speed, he’s returned in raucous environments and I’m excited to see how he sees it. There is a knack to it and he’s shown on tape that he has that knack.”
Poke averaged 27.4 yards on 15 kickoff returns for the Golden Flashes in 2022 and 23.5 yards on 24 kickoff returns in 2021. As a team, WVU averaged 17.8 yards on kickoff returns and no one player had an average above 20.
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