Georgetown 2018 Preview: Special Teams

A number of new faces and new roles are in play as Georgetown searches for forward momentum in 2018. As far as special teams go, there is a clear favorite for its kicking duties.

Brad Hurst is the odds-on choice to handle the team's kicking and punting roles this season. His consistency is there, but as far as special teams go, it's a team effort.

Hurst returns for his junior season with a league high 82 punts for a 40.7 average, yet the Hoyas special teams were responsible for a net of 35.7 yards per punt, last among the seven teams. Hurst's 82 punts fell four short of the school record by his predecessor, Harry McCollum, in 2016. That Georgetown is tearing apart its record book by number of punts over the past two seasons speaks to its poor offense, but for his part, Hurst is doing his job.

Hurst needs improvement on PAT's, where the Hoyas were last among the PL teams with 13 for 17 on extra points. As far as field goals, Hurst was 5 for 9 in 2017, fifth among the seven teams.

On kickoffs, Georgetown performed well in 2017 holding opponents from big gains.  Georgetown led the league in average kickoff (63.1 yards) and second in net kickoff coverage (39.6).

One new addition to the kicking battery is freshman Brady Weas, the sucessor to 2018 graduate Warren Wynn and the team's long snapper. In some ways, long snappers are most successful when you haven't heard of them, and that will be Weas' charge in 2018.  high snap or a missed connection with Hurst as the punter or Gunther Johnson on the PAT spells trouble , and the Hoyas can hardly afford either scenario.

As far as special teams coverage, Georgetown has done well given the situations at hand.  The Hoyas ranked fourth in PL games on kickoff returns and third on punt returns. The low point of the punt return effort was on defense, where Harvard returner Justice Shelton-Mosley retuned a Hurst kick 91 yards for a touchdown at RFK Stadium, all but ending the Hoyas' hopes in what may be the last game against the Crimson for a number of years.

As experience and performance goes, the special teams outlook for Georgetown is a lot like last season - a capable unit that won't win many games but won't lose many, either.