West Virginia head coach Neal Brown talked very positively about his special teams performance following their 41-28 West Virginia victory over UCF.
Kicker Michael Hayes went 5/5 on PAT, 2/2 FG and had just one of his eight kickoffs returned in the win, while punter Oliver Straw did well on his unit as well.
“I thought Michael Hayes was special,” Brown said. “For him to kick six touchbacks and one fair catch was huge.”
The Mountaineers have switched up their personnel on special teams, limiting the number of defensive starters being utilized as injuries are hurting their depth on defense. With the switch, you would think it would have been an issue for the Mountaineers, but Brown said it has allowed them to physically match what other teams are doing in the Big 12.
“We tried to reduce their role on special teams, really hold them to one and so we do have some different guys back there. Really gone bigger on kickoff, which I think fits how teams in our league are returning the ball against us,” Brown explained.
Brown, also spoke in high regard about Straw who also had a good day against the Knights this past weekend.
“It’s huge when [Straw] gets the ball up in the air. When he’s at his best, we’re a fair catch operation because he turns the ball over, he hangs it up. His ball, it’s kind of a knuckleball, it’s hard to catch.”
The Aussie is in his second year with the Mountaineers. In 2022 he punted for over 2,000 yard s with a long punt of 63 yards. This year he is averaging 42.5 yards a punt.
Two more special teamers Brown made note of were wide receiver and punt returner Preston Fox and backup punter Leighton Bechdel.
“I thought Preston Fox played a really good game, special teams-wise,” Brown, said.
“Leighton Bechdel had to hold Graeson (Malashevich) was out, and Leighton did a nice job,” Brown, mentioned.
Michael Hayes was named special teams player of the week for WVU’s weekly team awards and leads the Big 12 in field goal make percentage.
Brown will look for his special teams to continue playing at a high level against BYU this Saturday at home, to add another to the win column.
