The “Santos era” isn’t starting off strong.
Once considered contenders for the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs, the Quakers have quickly diminished to a middle-of-the-road Ivy squad with a glimmer of hope to earn a handful of all-conference honors. Despite narrowly eking out a 24-20 victory over the Howard Bison (2-4) last Saturday, Penn football (2-2, 0-1 Ivy) can’t avoid its main problem on the gridiron: the special teams unit.
Special teams are a critical part of any football team. They’re the players behind every kick, every punt, and every field goal. They advance the ball after a touchdown for critical extra point opportunities while playing versatile roles on both offense and defense.
When special teams fall short, it’s nearly impossible for any football team to regain its footing, whether it’s your under-10 neighborhood league or the NFL. A poor kick ruins a drive to advance the ball into the end zone. A turnover on a return stops a team’s momentum in its tracks. A poor punt sacrifices field position, forcing the offensive line to keep running while opponents gain a short field advantage.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, the special teams room seems to be struggling.
Signs were evident from the onset of the season. The Quakers lost Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Year running back/returner Julien “Juice” Stokes and honorable mention All-Ivy punter/kicker Santiago Sturla to graduation. Rick Ulrich, the Quakers’ former special teams coordinator and running backs coach, stepped down alongside former head coach Ray Priore after a 19-season tenure.
A new coaching administration brings way for a new era of greatness, or so they say. But Justin Stovall, the Quakers’ current special teams coordinator, is perhaps bogged down by a litany of responsibilities. In addition to his role with the kicking units, Stovall serves as the Quakers’ linebacker coach and the associate coach.
As forecasted during media day, both the linebacker and the special teams rooms are undergoing extensive changes under head coach Rick Santos’ regime. It’s questionable at best to expect a single person to overhaul two ends of the field while also serving as Santos’ right hand man. And that’s not including his recruiting responsibilities or other off-the-field responsibilities.
While special teams could keep up with Bucknell in the Quakers’ season opener, they faced a far more fierce opponent in No. 4 Lehigh for their first game at Franklin Field. Although the Quakers kept Lehigh just 3-0 through the first half, problems arose when the Mountain Hawks started converting.
A vertical punt straight up into the air set the tone for the second half as Penn gave up vital ground that Lehigh quickly capitalized on with a touchdown. The sequence wasn’t just the punters’ fault, though. Kickers blew past the goalpost, losing critical field goal points. Every time Penn’s defense limited the Mountain Hawks yardage, repeated mistakes from special teams gave them grace.
Although offensive mistakes largely defined the game against Dartmouth, missed field goals still ran rampant – a critical point loss for the Quakers in a 14-10 contest. Another missed field goal from sophomore kicker Mason Walters during the fourth quarter of the Quakers’ most recent match against Howard prevented an earlier opportunity to tie up the score as the Quakers were down 20-17.
Time and time again, the Quakers seem to wrench defeat from the jaws of victory. As the Ivy League becomes a more competitive conference in the wake of the NCAA eligibility change and FCS playoff, the program needs to run like a well-oiled machine.
Special teams is just the biggest issue of the moment, but the team as a whole is struggling. Despite being projected to finish fourth in the conference in the Ivy League preseason polls, Penn stands at the bottom of the conference power rankings. As other programs gain national attention and steamroll past out-of-conference opponents, the Quakers are forced to play catch up.
I’m not a football player. I don’t even cover football regularly for the Daily Pennsylvanian. I don’t know how Stovall or Santos or any Ivy League pundit would diagnose the situation. But I know two things for certain – punts shouldn’t go straight up in the air, and kickers shouldn’t be making two out of six field goals on the season. Special teams need to step up if we want the rest of the conference to take us seriously.
Ellie Clark is a College junior from Cleveland, Oh., studying history of art, cinema and media studies, and music. She serves as sports editor. All comments should be directed to dpsports@thedp.com.
