Michigan to continue platooning Jake Thaw, Tyler Morris at punt returner: 'We'll play them both'

Michigan Wolverines football has rotated its punt returners early on this season, with senior Jake Thaw getting the first snaps and sophomore Tyler Morris also getting his opportunity each of the last three contests. Freshman Karmello English had 1 return in the season-opener, while Morris appeared to be limited while recovering from a minor preseason injury.

Thaw has returned 5 punts for 33 yards with a 19-yard long. Morris has 3 attempts for 27 yards with a 22-yard long, and also had a long return called back due to a penalty.

Heading into Michigan’s first road game of the season, a tilt at Nebraska, special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh is intent on continuing to play both Thaw and Morris.

“We could end up in that position where one guy has asserted himself as the best guy,” Harbaugh said at a Wednesday press conference. “I feel really good about both guys right now. They both have … they’re a little bit different, in terms of what they are better at, what they excel at, in terms of tracking and catching the ball.

“We’ll play the guy that we think gives us the best chance to have the ball on the next play — that’s the No. 1 thing. If nothing else, we want the offense to go out there the next play. And then the next-best thing that could happen is to have the PAT team go out there and kick it.

“We’ll play them both, and I’m glad that we’ve gotten three guys reps there and see how it goes.”

First and foremost, the job of the Michigan punt returner is to field the ball clean and retain possession, Harbaugh said. So far, the Wolverines have been clean in that regard, though there have been some instances where the returner hasn’t caught the ball, instead letting it hit the ground and bounce.

“By far — and it’s not even close — the main criteria is the ability to field the ball and not put us at risk of losing possession,” Harbaugh said. “If you have a guy that you don’t trust, you really can’t play him as a punt returner. Of the body types that are good at making people miss and good at running with the football, maybe five percent of those guys are actually good at fielding punts — and probably less when you start factoring in the sun, the wind, reading the ball off the punter’s foot.

“You’re trying to build depth at the position. You want to try to have five or six guys that are able to do it. A couple years ago, we ended up with our fifth guy and sixth guy at one point as the returner, so need to try to build that depth, but by far the most important thing is the guy’s decision-making and ability to field the ball clean. You take that gladly as opposed to possibly putting the ball on the ground and giving it back to the other team. That’s the main thing.”

Michigan special teams can be sharper

Michigan hasn’t been as clean in special teams as it has the last two seasons. The Wolverines have missed an extra point, fumbled three times on kickoffs (one was lost) and had a few punts go over their heads, backing the offense up. Harbaugh isn’t overly concerned, more focused on improvement going forward.

“When you have a lot of new players, unfortunately those types of things happen, and you have to get through them and get through them fast,” the Michigan assistant said. “It doesn’t mean you’re happy with them or OK with them, but they’re understandable. You just try to see as many of those things coming as you can and try to prevent them.

“The big thing is just to be constantly getting better — be better this week than we were last week. When you can do that and keep stacking those improvements, we’ll be where we want to be.”

Michigan graduate kicker James Turner is 3-of-5 on field goals, including tying his career high with a 50-yarder against East Carolina. He’s 2-of-3 from between 40-49 yards. He’s also 16-of-17 on extra points, after missing one in the opener.

Junior punter Tommy Doman, meanwhile, has been a weapon. He’s punted 9 times with a 45-yard average, 4 that have ended up inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and 1 of 50-plus yards. Opponents have only returned 4 for 14 yards. He’s also been great on kickoffs, with 16 touchbacks on 22 boots. Doman is also the Wolverines’ holder on field goals and PATs.

Harbaugh believes both Michigan specialists will continue to improve this season.

“I’ve been really pleased with both of them,” Harbaugh said. “Both of them still are not quite where they can be, in terms of their potential. It’s probably to be expected. They’re new players, and field goal is a little bit of a new operation. You just hope for gradual improvement as you get going. If they continue the path that they’re on, they’ll be in a really great spot later in the year.”