North Carolina State University Athletics
Deraney Goes Deep
9/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 25, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-After recording touchbacks on six of his first seven kickoffs last week against Texas Tech, John Deraney, NC State's freshman kicker, still had a little bit left in his strong right leg. Boy did he. As an encore on his final kick off of the day, Deraney nailed a boomer that carried beyond the back line of the north end zone at Carter-Finley Stadium. Then, with one bounce, the ball found a resting-place next to the ambulance that sits outside the old home locker room at the Finley Field House. Upon seeing the ball roll toward them, stadium personnel working the area wore expressions of "where did that come from?"
"They got deeper and deeper," said Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato about Deraney's day, which included seven touchbacks on eight kickoffs. "I told him when the game was over if you can skip that first one (returned 29 yards) and you kick the next seven like you did (all touchbacks) then we'll be fine."
Deraney's kicks certainly bring welcome relief to the many starting position players for NC State who are also asked to go down and cover on kickoffs.
"I love it because I don't have to exert too much energy before that next 1st and 10 when I'm in there," said junior linebacker Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay. "When he kicks it out of the end zone, I just say 'thank you man, you just saved me a breath.'"
So successful have Deraney's kickoffs been (he has 10 touchbacks in the last two games), that Amato worries that Aughtry-Lindsay and the others who run down on kick coverage might start to get a little bit spoiled.
"We have to be careful that our cover people don't become complacent," Amato said. "I told [assistant coach] Chris Demarest, who handles that, we have a thing we say where we tell them they need to get to the 30-yard line when the ball is caught. We call that the battle line. I told him (Demarest) that we need to tell the guys on that team that if they don't cross that 30-yard line by the time that ball lands in the endzone that they loafed and they'll run on Monday. It's something to keep them from getting complacent because he (Deraney) isn't going to kick them all out of the end zone, whether it has to do with wind, he misses them or whatever."
This Saturday, Deraney and the entire NC State kick cover squad will face a big challenge against North Carolina, which features one of the nation's top return men in Michael Waddell. Before twisting his ankle last week at Wisconsin, Waddell had four returns for 176 yards, including a 97-yard runback for a touchdown on the opening kickoff. Through last Saturday's games, Waddell leads the ACC and ranks 5th in the nation with an average of 35.3 yards per return.
And even after Waddell left with the ankle injury last week, UNC freshman Mike Mason had another touchdown return that was called back because of a clipping penalty. Overall, the Tar Heels wracked up 246 total yards on kickoff returns.
In other words, if John Deraney isn't kicking the ball next to the ambulance this weekend, the Wolfpack's cover team will have some work to do.
