Schmiedebusch, Gates two of MAC’s top specialists (03-28-12)

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File photo. BGSU’s Jerry "Boo Boo"
Gates (Photo: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

Bowling Green has two of the top special teams specialists in the
Mid-American Conference returning this season – punter Brian Schmiedebusch and
kickoff returner Jerry ‘Boo Boo’ Gates.Schmiedebusch, who started his college
career at the University of Findlay, averaged 45.3 yards on 57 punts in 2011,
with 19 punts of 50 yards or more and 18 punts which landed inside the 20-yard
line. He had a long of 81 yards. He was a first-team all-conference
pick."We have the best punter in the league coming back," BG head
coach Dave Clawson said. "As good as he was, he can still get better. He
needs to work on consistency, but he has such an upside. He’s a good athlete who
is getting stronger. That is a position of strength on our football team. He’s a
football player who happens to kick."Gates returned 38 kickoffs for 981
yards (25.8-yard average) and a touchdown last season. Gates was second in the
league and set a BG single-season record for return yardage. He was a
second-team all-conference selection as a kickoff return specialist.Gates, a
starter on defense for the Falcons, is also a hard-hitter on the special teams
coverage units.Cory Johnson returns as the long snapper."He had a very good
year. His times can get a little better, but he was very consistent last
year," Clawson said.Clawson hopes Clay Rolf from Eastwood High School, can
be the short-snapper for field goals and point-after-touchdowns."I’d love
Clay Rolf to be our short snapper because he’s a bigger body (6-foot-6, 275
pounds)," Clawson said. "With protections and such, I’d love to get
Clay going with that."Stephen Stein, a walk-on, took over all the
place-kicking duties, except kickoffs, early last season. He finished 8-of-11 on
field goals with a long of 39 yards, and 24-of-25 on PATs.Kyle Burkhardt, a
walk-on, won both kicking jobs in the preseason, but was 1-of-2 on field goals
and 13-of-16 on extra points before Stein took over. Burkhardt, who handled the
bulk of the kickoff duties last season, has left the team."Stein was
accurate last year, but the longest kick we attempted last year was 41 yards,’
Clawson said. "We’ve got to be able to say when we get the ball inside the
25-yard line, we’re going to get points. Last year we could say when we got the
ball inside the 20, we would get points. We would go for fourth downs not out of
philosophy, but out of necessity."If you look at our kick numbers last
year, our percentage was way up. But a part of that was we only attempted short
field goals. … It’s clearly an area where, if you’re going to be an elite team,
eventually you’re going to have to kick a 45-yard field goal to win a game. It’s
something we haven’t shown the ability to do yet."Tyler Tate was a
scholarship kicker last season, but he was hurt and was unable to kick in a
game.Matt Oczypok enters his fourth season as a scholarship kicker with the
team, but he has never kicked in a regular season game.The Falcons used a 2012
scholarship on Anthony Farinella, a kicker from Downers Grove (Ill.) South High
School. A highly touted kicker, who was also a state champion in wrestling and a
state qualifier in the 800 meters, Farinella will compete for playing time in
the fall.The Falcons did lose punt returner Eugene Cooper, who had 17 returns
for 102 yards last season.Gates, Shaun Joplin, Diontre Delk and Travis Greene
are returning punts this spring.

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