Why teams are returning fewer kicks against the Texas Longhorns

Will Stone has been the Texas kickoff specialist since he stepped on campus in 2022, and he’s showing off his leg more than ever during the 2024 season.

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Stone has kicked off 32 times this year. Eighteen have gone for touchbacks and 10 have been fair caught to bring the ball out to the 25-yard line. That means only four kicks have been returned against Stone this year, good for a return rate of 12.5 percent.

The return rate on Stone’s 96 kickoffs last year? 32.3 percent, almost 20 percentage points higher.

And in 2022? Opponents returned 41.2 percent of the 86 balls Stone kicked off to them.

Stone’s 18 touchbacks have him on pace for 72 across a 12-game regular season. That would blow away a previous career high of 52 he set last year. His ten kicks fair caught are already just two off of his 12 from last year.

In years past, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks have looked to the third phase as a place where the Longhorns can make use of starters to create better field position for the UT offense and defense. A cliche term for that might be hidden yardage, but for the Longhorns it was a way to to truly reduce opponents’ scoring opportunities.

Data from Brian Fremeau’s BCFtoys.com reveals a handful of yards can make a significant difference in points per drive.

Two things:

• In 2018, the fair catch rule on kickoffs rule was implemented which brought the ball to the 25.
• Starting in 2012, a touchback brought the ball out to the 25 instead of the 20-yard line.

So, let’s say a team takes the ball on its own 25-yard line to start a drive. According to BCFtoys, the average points per drive in FBS games from 2007 to 2022 in non-garbage time starting on the -25 was 1.90. On drives that started from the -21? That number drops to 1.81.

What about the -18? It drops again to 1.81.

If disaster happened? Drives that start on the -11 netted 1.41 points per drive.

In the other direction, even a return that made it to the -29 averaged 2.06 points per drive.

Starting a drive on the -35 like when a kick goes out of bounds? Those drives averaged 2.20 points. Stone has yet to send a free kick out of bounds this season.

Make it to the +48, and you’re averaging a field goal per drive. You have to get all the way to the +3 to get above six points per drive.

(By the way, Texas is allowing 0.43 points per drive in 2024. Drives that start from the -1 averaged 1.00 point per drive in BCFToys’ data.)

With that data, the next thing to note is average starting field position. When Stone’s kickoffs had an astronomical 41.2 percent return rate in 2022, the average opponent starting field position was the 23.3-yard line according to Pro Football Focus.

Some teams figured out in 2023 to take the yardage given to them by the rule book, as the average starting field position on Stone’s kicks was the 24.5-yard line.

And in 2024, with only four returns on 32 kicks so far, the average starting field position for Longhorn opponents is the 24.3-yard line. By the way, Stone was credited with a tackle on one of those Michigan returns.

The -24 in BCFToys’ data also averaged 1.90 points per drive like the -25.

The -23? 1.79 points per drive.

So what’s the explanation for the increased number of touchbacks?

Well, it could be a Texas thing. There’s a chance Banks and Sarkisian are telling Stone to boot it as hard as he can. With the number of starters on the Longhorns’ special teams, one sprint down the field without contact might be the price to pay to keep hits off of key players.

What’s more likely is that opponents see data similar to the numbers presented above and would prefer not to run the risk of curtailing their opportunity to score.

It’s been tough sledding for opposing offenses in 2024 regardless. Texas leads the nation in scoring defense and is sixth in opponent yards per play at 3.67. Only Ohio State, the No. 1 team in opponent yards per play, is allowing under three yards every snap.

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Texas opponents so far have chosen not to return Stone’s kickoffs, a sign of immense respect for both the Longhorns’ special teams and defense.