Utah Utes football: Special teams getting a kick start

The Utah football team has a lot of shoes to fill for next season, with the likes of Brian Johnson, Paul Kruger and Sean Smith no longer in the program.

However, perhaps the biggest shoes to fill are those of one of the team's smallest players last year, kicker Louie Sakoda.

It's almost impossible to replace someone like Sakoda, a two-time Mountain West Player of the Year and two-time all-American who handled the Utes' punting chores for four years and place-kicking duties for three.

Even if his replacements are above average, they are going to be compared unfavorably to Sakoda, who was almost an automatic as a placekicker (22-of-24 FGs, 56-of-57 PATs in 2008-09) and a pinpoint punter with a knack for putting the ball inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

Coach Kyle Whittingham has had good and bad things to say about his specialists, and this week, it has mostly been the latter.

"The area that's the most lacking is the special teams," he said. "We're still very rough in the PAT, field-goal and punt departments. The kicking game is miles away from where it needs to be right now. We've got to spend a lot of time to make sure we get it up to speed."

Whittingham is also quick to say that the Utes got spoiled having Sakoda to rely on for the past few years.

"The last four years, we've had Louie Sakoda, and we don't have that luxury any more," he said. "We're essentially starting over with our specialists, and that's a very important aspect of what's going on."

The top candidates to replace Sakoda are Ben Vroman, who handled kickoffs last year, at placekicker, and Sean Sellwood, a South African native who played for Judge Memorial, at punter.

No one is more aware of the challenges with the kicking game than special-teams coach Jay Hill.

"Our drills have been pretty good as far as the blocking and tackling go," Hill said. "The kicking situation has been a little up and down. One practice they'll do well, and one practice they've got to be better."

Tuesday's practice was one of those that needed to be better. After not doing well early in the practice, the placekickers were called upon to try some long field goals, but missed a half dozen in a row. Then after the rest of the team was long gone, Vroman, Coleman Petersen and Joe Phillips stayed after for another 20 minutes practicing field goals.