TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Spurlock Wants Shot At History

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 15, 2007

TAMPA Micheal Spurlock has watched Devin Hester and Dante Hall make his job look easy.

Hester is Chicago's return specialist, a man who makes taking back kickoffs into a video game and he's holding the controller. He has returned 36 kickoffs for 849 yards and two touchdowns this season - with a long of 97 yards - and has taken back 37 punts for 558 yards and three touchdowns. Hester had six returns for touchdowns last season (three punts and three kickoffs), including one on the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl. Most teams prefer to kick away from him.

Hall, a two-time Pro Bowler in Kansas City before being traded to St. Louis, has 12 career return touchdowns (six punts, six kickoffs), second-most in NFL history.

Spurlock, the latest in a long line of Bucs kickoff returners still waiting to make history, wants to join Hester and Hall in those highlights.

"Me and my boy were talking about it the other night, and it seems like when they get the ball, it's all you see on highlights. Like they drew it up just like that," Spurlock said. "We want it that way and it hasn't been that way."

Tampa Bay's kick return struggles have been written about annually like JFK assassination stories, only without a legitimate conspiracy theory.

Nearly everyone knows the Bucs never have returned a kickoff for a touchdown in team history, which began Sept. 12, 1976, at Houston. The streak, which has reached 1,864 kickoffs, is bound to end one day, but it might be easier to predict six numbers in tonight's lottery than when Tampa Bay actually will score on a kickoff.

Spurlock, a first-year wide receiver undrafted as a quarterback out of Mississippi who was signed off the practice squad Nov. 1, has given Tampa Bay's optimistic fans a flicker of hope it could happen this season. Spurlock, who has shown good speed and the ability to hit the wedge running, has returned nine kickoffs for 237 yards (26.3 average) since Mark Jones was lost for the season because of a knee injury. Spurlock returned one kickoff 45 yards against Houston last week, reaching the Texans' 47-yard line.

Those meager numbers may not compare to Hall's or Hester's, but the kickoff anticipation is slowly building.

"The touchdown thing, as big of a burden as it is for everybody to carry, we're trying to get the best field position we can for our offense," Bucs special teams coordinator Richard Bisaccia said. "We go out there every time to score. I feel like we're playing OK. We were playing a little bit better earlier in the year, but we got some guys who are getting a little more consistency playing together, and hopefully we'll make a run here in the end."

Receiver Michael Clayton has returned eight kickoffs for 172 yards - his longest was 26 - but he's currently the safety valve if a ball is kicked away from Spurlock.

"I think it's safe to say I'm not a guy who is going to make 10 guys miss, but I will hit a crease and go if it's there," Clayton said. "A lot of guys in the league do it. It's not a return. I can return. I'm not a specialist, but I can return. It's just another way to be productive and help this team get into great field position."

Although scoring touchdowns would be nice, field position is the second goal of kickoff returns. Tampa Bay's average starting field position has been the 26-yard line (26th in the NFL). For comparison, Chicago has been starting at the 34, best in the NFL.

The Bucs don't have Hester or Hall, but with Spurlock back there, they do have hope.

"It [scoring on a kickoff] is going to be like, 'Phew, finally. Now let's go out there and get another,' " Spurlock said. "You're never going to be satisfied. Just like when people say they won a Super Bowl. The first one was good, but let's now go chase the next one.

"We're just going to be chasing it. Once we get it, everyone is going to be relieved that finally somebody broke it, but let's go get another one."

Reporter Anwar S. Richardson can be reached at (813) 259-8425 or arichardson@tampatrib.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT