that he is so valuable as a receiver, it is just too risky to have him return kicks and punts. Special teams plays tend to be more dangerous than plays than regular plays because of the speeds of the players when they collide. Quan is a critical part of the horn offense and losing him to injury would be devastating.

I also agree with your other reasons.

This discussion brings out the cynic in me. Here we are focusing on a deficiency in the Texas gameplan. As much as I’d like to overlook the punt/kickoff return game, I can’t. With so much to celebrate, I can’t help but worry about this element of the team. Some will say the offense is great, the return game is satisfactory so why worry.

My fear: Texas offense sputters against OU, and the field position battle becomes a critical factor to the outcome. Texas loses, and we’re back to square one, thinking about what would’ve been had Chykie or Aaron Williams of DeSean Hales had their chance to burn up the field. Texas loses, and suddenly, the lack of a vertical passing game is a big concern. Texas loses, and suddenly all those little nitpicky deficiencies that have been pointed out up to this point become the focal points of the entire Longhorn nation.

We don’t have much to criticize these days, but we also have to control for the quality of past opponents vs future opponents. If the return game is just satisfactory against poor-average competition, what will it look like against elite competition? In closer matches, a ho-hum return game, as PB (and others like Chip Brown and Geoff Ketchum) has suggested, will become an eyesore and possibly even a reason fans point to as, god forbid, the reason Texas lost.

I’m torn on this. On one hand, we should really have someone who can do a better job than Quan. He has sure hands, but it’s not like he never fumbles either.

On the other hand, Remember the time everyone were saying Chiles should get meaningful snaps. The reason was we don’t know his capabilities. Where are those people now? Here is a newsflash: coaches have seen these guys in practice, and know their capabilities to a much greater degree than us. We don’t need to see them for ourself so we can judge! My point: it could be the case that based on the practice, non of the candidates is capable of doing a better job than Quan.

Where the line of scrimmage is when the ball is kicked is a great influence on how the return is setup. If the punt goes up from the opponent when they are at their own 30 yard mark gives the returner more opportunities for a good return than if they kick for the return teams own 40.
The horn defense has been a bend but not break type of team. It gives up yardage in the pretty easily until the opposing team gets onto the horns side of the field.

Texas was at the bottom of the list you presented with forcing only 70 punts, the teams which were better than the horns forced more punts which means either the horns kept the ball out of the opposing teams (not likely for it’s weak defense) or the other teamed scored or made a turnover. Texas was 45th in scoring defense, allowed 40 tds to Ohio St.’s 20. Only USC and LSU had a higher percentage of kicks inside their 20.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,inside 20,,,,,,,,,FC ,,,,,,,,,, #extra returns than Texas

LSU,,,,,,,,,,,,32.9% ,,,,,,,,,,, 24% ,,,,,,,,,,,,,7.3

USC,,,,,,,,,,,,32.6% ,,,,,,,,,,,12% ,,,,,,,,,,,,,19

Texas,,,,,,,,,,27.1% ,,,,,,,,,,,,28%,,,,,,,,,,,,,0

Mizzou,,,,,,,,,,27.1% ,,,,,,,,,,,24% ,,,,,,,,,,,,2.1

Oklahoma,,,22.4% ,,,,,,,,,,,22% ,,,,,,,,,,,,0

Ohio St. ,,,,,,20.3% ,,,,,,,,,,,,13%,,,,,,,,,,,,6.9
 
Having less kicks inside the your 20 means less fair catches The difference between Texas and LSU may just be the difference between a small number of punts. Texas may have had 4 or 5 punts inside the ten than LSU or that small number of longer punts to LSU where the return man had room to run. USC really stands out as something different. Texas fair caught everything inside the 20 and USC ran back 20 out of 31.
I would bet this has less to do with how good the returner is and more about how conservative the coach is. To say mack brown is more conservative than pete carroll or les miles is pretty clear. But only a handful of kicks can also exaggerate how conservative Mack Brown looks.

If Quan can get back to his 9.3 yards per punt return bordering on 10, that’d be fine with me. I understand the need for playmakers, but that’s really not a bad average and he doesn’t fumble. Of course, the second Cosby does, we’ll all wonder what the heck Mack was thinking.

However, on kickoffs, I’d love to see someone else field them. Cosby and Shipley both have had a great year so far, but not only does it make little sense to risk our two veteran receivers on special teams, I’m sure we can find a more dangerous returner among our ranks.

Overall, I agree that Mack is being too conservative. Even if we grant that our offense will keep its pace during our brutal Big 12 schedule, it’s not like we have the only offense in the Big 12 capable of putting up points. Against OU, Mizzou, and Tech, we’ll definitely want other advantages that help us score.

While some have mentioned the risk / reward of punt returns, the general consensus seems to be that there is no potential downside to trying to block punts. How about roughing / running into the punter? My point is only that there is a potential risk to rushing the punter, or for that matter, any strategy you choose to implement. It requires a well coached punt coverage / blocking team, and even then there will be some calls against you.
As far as exciting plays for the fans go, I think blocking a punt and returning it for a TD is right up there at the top.