Special teams could be Utah's achilles heel again. In the past, special teams at Utah were terrible. But since Urban Meyer arrived, that had all changed until last year. Utah had three punts blocked last year. Hopefully that will get better this year.
Punter Sean Sellwood and kicker Nick Marsh are both back. Marsh should be doing the kickoffs this year, but the place kicking is a little up in the air right now. It looks like newcomer Coleman Petersen was overtaking the place kicking duties, but in the last scrimmage he went 1-4 on field goals while Marsh made all 8 of his, including two from 50 yards. I'm pretty unsettled about the kickers, so hopefully they improve.
The returners should be fine again, as they were last year. Reggie Dunn will be returning kickoffs again, this time with Ryan Lacy. Griff McNabb will be returning punts. I don't remember Lacy or McNabb returning any kicks, but I know they are both very fast as is Dunn. The return game has been pretty solid as of late so I think they should be fine again this year.
I'm worried about the kicking end of special teams. Field goals and punting can end up having a big effect on a game, and Utah needs to pull it together to have a successful first season in the Pac-12.
Grade: C+
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