A.J. Hughes has improved dramatically this season. Without his performance this season, some of the close wins, might have been losses. I typically use ESPN to view stats, but their statistics on punters isn't the best. To get a better idea of how good Hughes has been performing, I compiled my own stats from ESPN's play-by-play summary. Hopefully this paints a more detailed picture. I provide a brief summary at the end with some additional stats regarding return yards allowed and net punting. Please feel free to put together additional statistics. Enjoy!
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ALABAMA:
4th and 9 at VT 18 A.J. Hughes punt for 54 yards, returned by Christion Jones for 72 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
4th and 10 at VT 47 A.J. Hughes punt for 53 yards for a touchback.
4th and 9 at VT 16 A.J. Hughes punt for 33 yards, fair catch by Christion Jones at the VTech 49.
4th and 6 at VT 25 A.J. Hughes punt for 51 yards, returned by Christion Jones for a loss of 6 yards to the Alab 18.
4th and 1 at VT 38 A.J. Hughes punt for 42 yards, fair catch by Christion Jones at the Alab 20.
4th and 7 at VT 18 A.J. Hughes punt for 48 yards to the Alab 34, no return.
4th and 5 at VT 23 A.J. Hughes punt for 47 yards, returned by Christion Jones for 15 yards to the Alab 45.
4th and 11 at VT 17 A.J. Hughes punt for 49 yards, fair catch by Christion Jones at the Alab 34.
4th and 9 at VT 25 A.J. Hughes punt for 41 yards, returned by Christion Jones for 19 yards to the VTech 47.
4th and 11 at VT 47 A.J. Hughes punt for 34 yards, downed at the Alab 19.
4th and 10 at VT 34 A.J. Hughes punt for 47 yards, returned by Dee Hart for no gain to the Alab 19.
4th and 13 at ALA 42 A.J. Hughes punt for 32 yards, downed at the Alab 10.
4th and 6 at VT 24 A.J. Hughes punt for 55 yards, returned by Dee Hart for 18 yards to the Alab 39.
13 punts, AVG: 45.1, LONG: 55
9 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
5 inside 20
3 less than 40 yards (2 inside 20)
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WESTERN CAROLINA:
4th and 8 at WCU 37 A.J. Hughes punt for 36 yards, downed at the WCaro 1.
4th and 4 at VT 16 A.J. Hughes punt for 50 yards, returned by Terryon Robinson for 2 yards, fumbled, recovered by WCaro Terryon Robinson at the WCaro 36.
2 punts, AVG: 43, LONG: 50
1 inside 20
1 less than 40 yards (inside 20)
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EAST CAROLINA:
4th and 9 at VT 26 A.J. Hughes punt for 51 yards, returned by Justin Hardy for a loss of 3 yards to the ECaro 20, tackled by Chuck Clark.
4th and 2 at ECU 50 A.J. Hughes punt for 50 yards for a touchback.
4th and 8 at ECU 42 A.J. Hughes punt for 38 yards, downed at the ECaro 4.
4th and 5 at VT 38 A.J. Hughes punt for 48 yards, downed at the ECaro 14.
4th and 11 at VT 25 A.J. Hughes punt for 33 yards, returned by Danny Webster for 22 yards to the VTech 36, tackled by Darius Redman and Matt Roth.
5 punts, AVG: 44, LONG: 51
4 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
2 inside 20
2 less than 40 yards (1 inside 20)
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MARSHALL:
4th and 9 at VT 30 A.J. Hughes punt for 40 yards, returned by Devon Smith for 19 yards to the Marsh 49.
4th and 1 at VT 39 A.J. Hughes punt for 38 yards, returned by Devon Smith for 2 yards to the Marsh 25.
4th and 7 at VT 42 A.J. Hughes punt for 46 yards, punt out-of-bounds at the Marsh 12.
4th and 1 at VT 31 A.J. Hughes punt for 47 yards, returned by Devon Smith for 16 yards to the Marsh 38.
4th and 3 at VT 27 A.J. Hughes punt for 50 yards, punt out-of-bounds at the Marsh 23.
5 punts, AVG: 44.2, LONG: 50
2 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
1 inside 20
1 less than 40 yards
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GEORGIA TECH:
4th and 2 at VT 21 A.J. Hughes punt for 37 yards, fair catch by Tony Zenon at the GTech 42.
4th and 22 at VT 47 A.J. Hughes punt for 53 yards for a touchback.
4th and 7 at VT 10 A.J. Hughes punt for 45 yards, fair catch by Tony Zenon at the GTech 45.
4th and 25 at VT 40 A.J. Hughes punt for 43 yards, fair catch by Tony Zenon at the GTech 17.
4th and 10 at VT 45 A.J. Hughes punt for 44 yards, returned by Tony Zenon for a loss of 2 yards to the GTech 9.
4th and 6 at GT 39 A.J. Hughes punt for 34 yards, downed at the GTech 5.
6 punts, AVG: 42.7, LONG: 53
6 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
3 inside 20
2 less than 40 yards (1 inside 20)
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NORTH CAROLINA:
4th and 4 at VT 41 A.J. Hughes punt for 47 yards, punt out-of-bounds at the NCaro 12.
4th and 2 at VT 32 A.J. Hughes punt for 41 yards, fair catch by Ryan Switzer at the NCaro 27.
4th and 9 at VT 26 A.J. Hughes punt for 39 yards, returned by Ryan Switzer for 2 yards, fumbled at the NCaro 37.
4th and 15 at VT 50 A.J. Hughes punt for 50 yards for a touchback.
4th and 5 at VT 25 A.J. Hughes punt for 56 yards, returned by Ryan Switzer for 13 yards to the NCaro 22, NORTH CAROLINA penalty 10 yard Illegal Block on Malik Simmons accepted.
4th and 7 at VT 25 A.J. Hughes punt for 52 yards, fair catch by Ryan Switzer at the NCaro 23.
4th and 5 at VT 30 A.J. Hughes punt for 49 yards, punt out-of-bounds at the NCaro 21.
7 punts, AVG: 47.7, LONG: 50 **(ESPN has 8 punts with 46.1 avg, but play by play has 7)
5 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
1 inside 20
1 less than 40 yards
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PITTSBURGH:
4th and 3 at VT 41 A.J. Hughes punt for 52 yards, returned by Kevin Weatherspoon for 10 yards to the Pitt 17.
4th and 13 at PITT 47 A.J. Hughes punt for 47 yards for a touchback.
4th and 10 at VT 27 A.J. Hughes punt for 56 yards, returned by Kevin Weatherspoon for 3 yards to the Pitt 20.
4th and 22 at VT 19 A.J. Hughes punt for 56 yards, returned by Kevin Weatherspoon for 6 yards to the Pitt 31.
4 punts, AVG: 52.8, LONG: 56
1 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
2 inside 20
0 less than 40 yards
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OVERALL STATS:
43 punts, AVG: 45.7, LONG: 56
29 were touchbacks, fair catches, downed, no return, or negative yards on return
15 inside 20
10 less than 40 yards (5 inside 20)
His average is up. 29 out of 43 punts have resulted in no return (14 returns allowed). Over one third of his punts have been downed inside the 20. However, on average, he has what I would consider one bad punt per game. If he can eliminate the one bad punt per game, and the coverage teams do better in limiting large returns, then the performance by Hughes will go a long way to securing more wins this season.
RETURN YARDS ALLOWED:
For the following statistics, ESPN includes one Windmuller punt, which was a good one, downed inside the 5 yard line. ESPN counts 29 returns and 162 allowed yards with an average of 5.6 yards per return. In my opinion, of equal statistical interest, is average return yards allowed per punt.
I count 208 total punt return yards allowed from the collection of ESPN play-by-play punts (can anyone help determine the large discrepancy between my count and ESPN's?). Assuming 208 yards, on Hughes' 43 punts, the special teams is allowing 4.8 return yards. Removing the TD return in the Alabama game, the average is just 3.2. Overall, the special teams are not allowing many positive returns, but when they do, they are pretty bad. On the 14 positive returns, the special teams is allowing an average of 14.9 yards. Again, removing the TD return, an average of 9.7 yards. That is significant! Essentially a first down! The special teams does need to get this right, but it hasn't played a significant role since the Alabama game (which had 4 of the 14 positive returns), simply because Hughes is booming the ball, and teams aren't often able to return it. One exception (since we nearly lost this one), Marshall had good starting field position a couple of times, in particular off of Hughes first punt (40 yards, 19 yard return), which led to their first touchdown.
Comments
AJ is pretty much awesome
#puntingiswinning
Unsung hero
It is so huge having home bail the offense out by switching field so consistently.
Don't forget that firstdown he got on a bad snap #PunterSwag
How could I have forgotten!? Thanks, #PunterSwag for sure
Wow. I glossed over the fact that we punted 13 TIMES (?!) during the 'Bama game!
WTF?
Great job.
Pro Tip: Tag your "Good Looking D" posts "SFW" /s
A few additional statistics: ESPN calculates average yards per return. They show 162 yards on 29 returns for a 5.6 yards allowed per return. In my opinion it is also interesting to calculate return yards allowed per punt. I count 208 allowed yards (not sure what the discrepancy is???) on 43 punts, yielding 4.8 return yards allowed per punt. Removing the 72 yard TD return by BAMA, and it is just 3.2. This indicates that overall special teams is doing great, because they are not allowing many returns for positive yardage. But when they do, they allow some pretty big returns. They've allowed (by my count) 219 yards on 14 positive returns, which yields a whopping 15.6 yards per positive return. Removing BAMA TD, still 11.3 yards. That's a first down!!
Luckily it hasn't hurt us aside from the BAMA game. The one exception in my mind, since we almost lost the game, was Hughes first punt against Marshall (40 yards, 19 yard return, put them at midfield), which gave them great field position and led to their first TD.
AJ Hughes, bringing puntingsexy back!
Let's not forget the "roughing the Punter" call that he drew as well at the end of the game.