Projected Starters Week 1 (Special Teams)

Much shorter post here, with the biggest question marks being at the return men positions.

Kickoff Specialist and Field Goal Kicker: Giorgio Tavecchio
Tavecchio will again head up both duties. He’s shown drastic improvement in the specialist position last year, and leg strength isn’t the biggest question with the senior kicker.

Rather, the question will be whether Tavecchio can show the consistency when called upon in tight game situations where has often faltered in the past. I’m actually fairly optimistic he will end up having a solid senior season.

Vincent D’Amato will likely back up his good friend here at both positions.

Punter: Bryan Anger
As pre-season All-American, everyone is hoping Anger can finally win the Ray Guy award. If he can nail down some of those funky rugby punts, Anger just might do it.

Jed Barnett is a bit of an all-in-one utility kicker, but is most likely the punter of the future for the Bears.


Long Snapper: Matt Rios
Rios quietly had a quiet but terrific season last year, as most great longsnappers do. A number of walkons in John Sheperdson, Brandon Madueno, and Cary Kriegsman will look to provide some depth here if called upon.

Return Men: Keenan Allen and Coleman Edmond
The Bears have quite a few options here with Marvin Jones, Steve Williams, Isi Sofele and Kaelin Clay all being viable options here.

My gut instinct is that Keenan Allen ends up as the punt returner. This is just from observation, but I think he may be better suited returning punts rather than kickoffs, though he would flourish at both. Allen is more of a threat in the open field due to his smooth athleticism, rather than a one-cut-and-go type of blazer that would be more suited for kickoff returns. Steve Williams is also an option here as he took a number of reps during the spring.

Colemon Edmond has really been dedicating himself to kickoff returns, and he has the speed to be a real weapon here. Sofele would be better served saving his body for the pounding it’ll take during the season, and Kaelin Clay is still recovering from his knee injury. Jones will return a few, but I’d wager that Steve Williams might get a few more shots before him.