Spots still open in kicking game

The West Virginia football team returns one of its two all-Big East Conference specialists in 2010.

Last year's special teams unit gained much notoriety for its play, as the group helped the Mountaineers to a 9-4 record.

Then-freshman kicker Tyler Bitancurt was named an all-Big East performer after hitting 13-of-15 field goals and 41-of-42 extra points.

Along with Bitancurt, punter Scott Kozlowski was also selected to the all-Big East squad after averaging 44.4 yards per punt in 2009.

With Kozlowski lost to graduation, the punting position is up in the air for the second-straight season. Currently, redshirt senior Gregg Pugnetti and junior Corey Smith, who transferred from Alabama in 2009, are battling for the starting job, but Stewart believes Pugnetti has the advantage.

"Gregg Pugnetti would be listed as the No. 1," Stewart said. "But if I had to do it today, I would let them both do it."

Smith, however, is the leader for the open kickoff spot after Josh Lider graduated. Smith has the advantage over redshirt freshman John Howard, Stewart said.

Stewart did make it point to emphasize that Bitancurt, who has recently fully recovered from offseason ankle surgery, would not be

handling any kickoff duties.

"I will not let Tyler Bitancurt kickoff unless it is an absolute emergency situation," Stewart said. "We do not want to disrupt anything there (with his injury)."

With all of the good attention the WVU special teams unit received last season, it also received some bad attention due to the struggles of its coverage units.

The Mountaineers ranked No. 104 out of 120 teams in the kickoff return yardage defense and No. 61 in punt return yardage defense.

"Some of the problems we had were that they were not taking angles on drops in order to get inside out on their people," said assistant coach David McMichael.

The first change head coach Bill Stewart made was to hand over his special teams coaching duties to assistant coaches McMichael – who came to WVU in the offseason from Connecticut – and Steve Dunlap.

Secondly, Stewart went to other programs across the country to find improvements to make to his coverage units.

"We went out, searched and got some new wrinkles from other teams," Stewart said. "We also did stages of drills on how to cover the kicks."

From early indications, the coaches have been happy with the changes, but the transition has not been easy.

"There were a couple of encouraging things," McMichael said. "Those kids really want to be good at this."

With that being said, the coaching staff is still looking for who will be covering the kicks.

"We are looking for 10 headhunters to make plays and get after the ball," Dunlap said.

Lastly, Stewart and his coaching staff are still deciding who exactly will return kicks and punts.

As it stands now, sophomore receiver Tavon Austin will be returning kicks, but starting running back Noel Devine, receiver Jock Sanders and cornerback Brandon Hogan could all see time at the position.

"They are all good athletes, and if you give them a crease, they have the ability to make a safety or kicker miss," McMichael said.

Austin returned 17 kicks last season with a 25.1-yard average. The Baltimore native had one return for a touchdown last season that went 98 yards.

Returning punts for the Mountaineers will be Hogan and Sanders, but as with kick return, Austin and Devine could also have an opportunity to return punts.

Sanders returned 17 punts last season with a long of 35 yards, and Hogan returned seven punts with a long of 49 yards.