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Special teams combines new talent, experienced players

The kicking game for the Wildcats last year was sporadic, to say the least.

Senior Mark McDonald hit only 11 of 20 field goals, but finished the season with a three field goal performance that turned out to be the difference in the Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska.

"I think Mark managed to settle down and did a nice job last season," special teams coach Pete Alamar said. "This year, he's paying much more attention to detail and with his growth and maturity. We are anticipating him to start off right away."

McDonald is betting that his Holiday Bowl performance and confidence from last year will carry over to this season.

"I'm definitely hoping it carries over," McDonald said. "I'm trying to take all the confidence I had in that game and take it into this year."

Sophomore punter Chris Palic redshirted last season after stepping in his freshman year during the Stanford game, punting without a name on his jersey at the time and being known for most of the season as "4."

Palic finished the 1997 season with 10 kicks downed inside the 20-yard and a longest punt of 66 yards versus Washington. Palic came into Camp Cochise this summer as the top punting prospect and will start at the punter position for the Wildcats.

"We are confident he'll do a good job for us this season," special team coach Bob Wagner said.

The punt team will see some personnel changes this year after blocking a school-record four last season. Every player who blocked one last year is gone.

"We set a school record for blocks last year," Wagner said. "We are basically starting over again with a number of new guys, but we talk about our punt team being our best 11, and our punt team will be that."

Senior Marcus Bell and sophomore Peter Hansen accounted for all the blocked PAT's the Wildcats had last year and will return on the block team this year.

Senior wide receiver Dennis Northcutt, senior inside linebacker Scooter Sprotte and freshman running backs Leo Mills and Bobby Wade are all candidates for the kickoff and punt return teams.

"It's an exciting bunch of candidates, good quality guys and we'll just see who performs," Alamar said.

Last season, Northcutt returned 38 punts for 437 yards, giving him 11.5 average per punt return. Northcutt also returned kickoffs, averaging just under 20 yards per return.

Wade has looked impressive during summer practice, and in a controlled scrimmage last Thursday, he took a kickoff and exploded up the sideline for a touchdown.