SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Theo Riddick adventure at punt return lasted just a week for Notre Dame. What was believed to be an electric special teams option short-circuited with muffs and general uncertainty securing the ball, so enter sure-handed John Goodman.
The senior just doesn’t consider his directive to be any different than his predecessor’s.
“As a return man, (Irish coach Brian Kelly) wants me to get the ball and score a touchdown,” Goodman said Wednesday. “That’s everybody’s goal and that’s my goal as well.”
He didn’t quite get there in his 2011 debut in the role, accruing three returns for 10 total yards at Michigan that were, in their own way, too mercurial for the Irish’s taste.
One return went for 13 yards. On another, Goodman attempted to make something out of nothing and ended with even less, losing five yards on the run-back. On another, he signaled for a fair catch with a fair amount of green space before him.
“We had a safe punt, and that generally means in most circumstances that you’re fair catching the ball because we don’t have a punt return team on the field,” Kelly said. “We leave our defense on the field. Having said that, there was so much separation, he’s got to use some judgment and field that ball and get us some more yardage.”
Kelly cited inexperience in the role but Goodman has returned 18 punts in the last two seasons, including 13 in 2010. Goodman offered a slightly nuanced take on it, saying he was “getting the feel for it” once more. If he gets that feel, he will boost a Notre Dame special teams department that has been maddeningly up and down for two weeks.
“I definitely made some bad decisions last week, but I’m going to fix those decisions,” Goodman said. “I watched film, I watched film on Michigan State already and how they play. They’re tough, they’re fast, and from what I remember last year, they’re really good on special teams. It’s going to be my job to secure it first and then get upfield, to get north and south.”
Twitter @ChiTribHamilton
