'We have to be better' ... Norvell not happy with FSU special teams

Since the day he was hired as the head football coach at Florida State, Mike Norvell has preached special teams.

In his introductory press conference, he talked about how he felt that phase was the backbone of a program, how it said everything about the buy-in and attitude of a football team.

And to that point, Norvell's special teams units at Memphis were exceptional.

That hasn't been the case this season at Florida State. And on Saturday, even in a win that was decided by a field goal on the final play, his special teams unit wasn't exactly elite against Syracuse.

"We have to be better and more consistent," Norvell said at his Monday press conference. "We're going to continue to work away at it and go get it done."

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Against Syracuse, the Seminoles fumbled a punt that completely flipped the momentum of the game, and they also missed an extra point.

While the punt coverage only allowed 15 yards total on two returns, thanks in large part to Alex Mastromanno's angled rugby punts, the kickoff coverage unit allowed almost 30 yards per runback, including a 39-yarder in the second half.

And the kickoff return unit was worse. Ja'Khi Douglas had three returns against the Orange for a total of 39 yards. HIs longest runback was 16 yards, and the best starting field position for the offense on one of his returns was its own 23.

"Our punt return game and our kickoff return game has to get better," Norvell said. "We spend too much time and emphasis on that throughout the course of practice for it not to show up."

Florida State currently ranks 90th in the country in kickoff return average at 18.5 yards and 98th in punt returns at 4.9 yards. Not exactly the game-breaking units Norvell had at Memphis.

Special teams coordinator John Papuchis did say on Monday that other players might get a shot at returning kicks as the season moves on. The Seminoles have already tried multiple returners in both areas, but after the injury to Travis Jay (who was the starter at both when the season began), the other options haven't made any real impact at all.

Douglas was the main kick returner on Saturday, and Pokey Wilson was the punt returner. Until he fumbled.

"In some cases, I think it's personnel," Papuchis said on Monday, when asked about the lackluster return game. "We've got to look at some different options and give some guys some different opportunities. In other cases, it's execution. Some of it's coaching, some of it's playing.

"There's a lot that's leading into us not being what we expect to be. But it's something that we're committed to doing, and we will get it right."

Papuchis was asked if he thought about telling his returners to fair-catch every kickoff no matter where it lands, therefore guaranteeing the ensuing drive would start at the 25-yard line.

He said they actually told Douglas to fair-catch the last kickoff if the ball went into the end zone, but because the redshirt freshman caught it near the goal line, he wasn't sure if he was in the end zone or not. So he decided to come out with it, which Papuchis thinks might have caused the hesitant return. He only made it to the 16-yard line.

But Papuchis added that the times FSU has decided to return a kick this year, the average starting field position has been the 23. Not great by any stretch. But it's not as if the offense is constantly being put in disastrous holes because of the kick-return game.

And as for the bigger picture, it doesn't sound as if Norvell wants to waive a white flag and just start fair-catching every kickoff.

"We don't want to go into any game just conceding that we're not going to return the ball this week," Papuchis said. "But we've got to make good choices and we've got to improve in everything we're doing there. ...

"I don't think we're anywhere near the point where we just want to concede that, 'Hey, we're just going to take it at the 25 every time.' Because then you're not building anything within your program the way it needs to be built. ... Because there will be a point in time when that unit is a weapon for us."

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