First Team all-America Kicker Michael Reeder
July, 1996
Noteworthy for certain is this portion of TCU's football program, a part which established itself as one of the finest in the country a year ago. The Frogs would like nothing better to be as adept at kicking the football, covering kicks and returning kicks as they were in 1995.
First Team all-America Kicker Michael Reeder
In kicking the ball they had few peers. Sophomore Michael Reeder, en route to consensus all-American honors, led the NCAA with his 23-of-25 field-goal successes (and all of his PATs), while departed senior Beau Stephens authored a 42.4 punting average.
Coverage-wise, TCU was especially successful against the punt return, allowing foes an average of only 6.0 yards per runback, the longest of which was a 23-yarder. And TCU's return teams weren't too shabby, either. They averaged a lofty 21.6 yards per kickoff runback and 12.2 yards per punt ran back.
Since Reeder and several of the other principals from those units of a year ago have returned, specialty team fortunes again look bright at Frogland. For instance, John Washington wound up No. 2 in the SWC and No. 6 in the NCAA with his 12.2 punt-return average a year ago, including three runbacks of over 40 yards.
As deep men on TCU kickoff return teams, Jason Tucker sported a 26.5-yard average on his two runbacks in '95 while Harry Fortson was nearly as productive with his 25.5 average. Several other Horned Frog speedsters will also likely be tested here.
Ashby Porter
Also around are two other valuable links in TCU's kicking successes - Ashby Porter, the Frogs' marvelous deep snapper, and kickoff specialist Todd Fitzgerald, who also serves as the team's backup place kicker.
Still, the most overriding concern for the specialty games in TCU's camp is that of a punter. The talented Reeder can boom'em and so can redshirt freshman Royce Huffman. However the question in both cases is whether those punting duties would detract from either's additional responsibilities Reeder's place kicking and Huffman's quarterbacking. Plus, untested in battle, it would be unfair to surmise as to either's consistency as punting specialists.