Kickoff coverage a point of emphasis for Clemson in 2016

A top-15 offense and top-10 defense helped Clemson build big leads throughout the 2015 season, but a kickoff unit that was one of the worst in the country led to tense moments in the fourth quarter on more than one occasion.

The Tigers averaged 38.5 points per game last year, which led to lots of kickoffs, 71 to be exact. Opponents turned those opportunities in the kicking game into big plays several times as Clemson finished 115 out of 127 FBS teams in kickoff return defense last season, allowing nearly 25 yards per return.

The Tigers allowed three kickoffs to be returned for touchdowns, tying Louisiana Tech for the most in the country.

“It’s embarrassing,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said last week. “We all have ownership in it. That’s the very first thing we talked about on defense when we got together, put it in front of them. We were last in the ACC in kickoff, last in punt return, middle of the pack in punt.”

The problems in the kicking game started early for the Tigers and continued throughout the year.

In Clemson’s first true test, at Louisville in mid-September, the Tigers led 20-10 early in the fourth quarter when Traveon Samuel returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score.

At the end of October, at N.C. State, Clemson allowed a 100-yard return for a touchdown and a 47-yard return to set up another score as it held off the Wolfpack in a shootout.

The kicking game woes finally caught up to the Tigers in the national championship game as Alabama returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and successfully recovered a surprise onside kick.

“We gave up some serious field position in both punts and kickoffs in the fourth quarter in critical games,” Venables said. “In a lot of those we had two-, if not three-score leads, then we go down, and we’re not covering like our hair is on fire.”

Venables expects the unit to be much better in 2016 but also knows that talk is cheap. His guys have to prove it.

“When we’ve been as good as we have on offense and defense … and then we’re dead last in special teams, that’s not right,” he said. “I think we’ve just got to do a better job of coaching it, and guys have to do a better job of being more frantic and desperate and more intense about it.

Venables wants players to study tape and have the same thought process on special teams as they do on offense and defense.

“We’ll challenge the guys, not that we didn’t a year ago, but we’ve got to do a much better job, all of us. It’s disgusting, terrible,” he said. “(We need to stop) being nonchalant in the fourth quarter. Taste blood, put the hammer down, suffocate the opponent, all those things. It was pretty obvious that we didn’t do a great job of finishing people off.”