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Practice report: Rychleski on Vandy plays

Posted on 09.11.08
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News of the day

Special teams coach Ray Rychleski shed light on what happened at Vanderbilt, when the punt return unit had a muff that resulted in a critical turnover.

Two fluky things happened on the third-quarter play, according to Rychleski: Commodores punter Brett Upson, who was averaging about 40 yards a try and had the wind at his back, only kicked it 28 yards. And USC’s Addison Williams didn’t hear a teammate’s call that the ball was loose.

When return man Captain Munnerlyn chose not to catch the punt he yelled “Poison! Poison!” — the standard order that the ball was free and to get away from it. The ball ended up hitting Williams’ heel, making it a free ball, and Vanderbilt recovered on the USC 29. One play and extra point later, Vanderbilt had tied it at 10, and went on to win 24-17.

“I told Addy today, move on from that,” Rychleski said. “And if we see it again — we coached against it tonight — they’ve got to listen, they’ve got to have awareness, they’ve got to understand the wind.

“But 28 yards with the wind and hit the back of the heel, you’ll see every team ball almost hits a sniper every time.”

Stock rising

Eric Norwood looked a lot more comfortable at his new position at Vanderbilt, when he had 10 tackles, tying Emanuel Cook for the team-high. Norwood had a subpar debut at linebacker against N.C. State, and admitted he felt a bit nervous about the change.

Stock falling

Tailback Taylor Rank has 18 carries in the first two games, second only to starter Mike Davis. But he appears to have fallen back behind Brian Maddox and Eric Baker.

“We’ve got to get a little more speed out there, we think, and Eric and Brian have been getting most of them right now,” Spurrier said. “Got to get both those guys on the field, let them play and see what happens.”

Injury report

Senior receiver Kenny McKinley is “out at this point” with a strained hamstring, according to Spurrier. McKinley had been very doubtful for Saturday’s game.

Extra point

Jamon Meredith’s position on the offensive line still hasn’t been announced. Spurrier said Meredith was working at tackle and “a little bit at guard.” ... Freshman kicker Ryan Doerr, who left the team after the opener, has enrolled at Kansas State, according to Rychleski. ... Yvan Banag, newly eligible after having his visa restored, will play on special teams this weekend.

Quote of the day

“I think there’s a reason why y’all aren’t out here on the field. So that’s all I’m gonna say.”

—Chris Smelley, when pressed on which quarterback will start and who else could play on Saturday.

— Seth Emerson

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