Jason Shumaker spends most of his time at practice running down the sideline chasing his running backs, making sure the players in the unit he coaches finish every play. But when coach Paul Petrino blows the whistle to start another drill, Shumaker will shift from running backs coach to one of the many special teams coaches Idaho has on its roster.
The Vandals don’t have a coach who bears the ‘special teams coordinator’ title since Patrick Libey departed from the program. Instead the special teams unit is a team effort of all the assistant coaches – mainly cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and Shumaker.
“They both have their units and it’s been organized and it’s been good,” safety Tom Hennessey said.
Last season it was Libey running the unit that was arguably Idaho’s best phase of the game — and one of the best in the nation for that matter. Of course, that was a unit that included senior punter Bobby Cowan and senior kicker Trey Farquhar. Cowan averaged 41.3 yards per punt in 2012. Farquhar connected on 19-of-25 field goals, including five from beyond 50 yards.
It’s been on true freshman Austin Rehkow to try and replicate that for the Vandals this season, Taking on both punting and kicking, Rehkow has produced exceptional results in the punting game and, thus far, but has struggled with the kicking game.
“That’s definitely been an adjustment from having Bobby and Trey for so long, but Austin has been great for a true freshman,” Hennessey said. “He’s been kicking well in practice, so we expect some good things.”
Rehkow is booting 46.9 yards per punt, including four punts over 60 yards already on the season. It’s kicking where the Spokane product has struggled, only connecting on 1-of-5 attempts and having missed kicks in each game this season.
At Central Valley High School in Veradale, Wash., Rehkow made national headlines when he connected from 67 yards out.
For Rehkow it’s just a matter of getting better with fundamentals and experience rather than confidence, Shumaker said.
“I don’t think confidence is any issue with Austin, I think Austin is a great young man and has plenty of confidence in his abilities,” Shumaker said. “He hasn’t made as many as he’d have liked to early on but we have complete confidence in him and he’ll be just fine.”
While Rehkow is kicking at a 46.9 yard-per-punt clip, Idaho’s struggling punt coverage has taken his net-yardage down to 36.9 yards-per-punt. Currently, opponents are averaging 17.7 yards per return on Rehkow’s kicks.
“We’re still adjusting to some of the new special teams schemes, they are different than last year. But we’re seeing improvement every week,” Hennessey said. “We’re right there on a couple different units from really having that break through.”
Improvements on kick and punt coverage teams would come from the fact that Idaho plays its best players on special teams, whether they are starters or not. For example, starting wide receiver Roman Runner plays a prominent role as a jammer on the punt return team. Even third-string quarterback Taylor Davis has had action with the kickoff team.
Shumaker said a lot of that has to do with the mentality the coaching staff brings from coaching in the Southeastern Conference, where the best players will play regardless of where they are on the depth chart.
“It’s not a place to hide freshman or anything like that,” Hennessey said. “Our motto is, if you’re too tired, you’re coming out on offense or defense but you’re staying in on special teams.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]