Special Teams on Saturday Was a Learning Experience for Brennan Presley, but He’s Close
STILLWATER – One of the players Oklahoma State fans are excited to see play in 2021 is sophomore Brennan Presley. The do-it-all receiver out of Bixby, OK burst onto the scene at the end of the 2020 season with six catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns against Miami in the Cheez-It Bowl.
On Saturday against Missouri State, Presley hauled in four catches for 68 yards. He also had one kick return for 36 yards and three punt returns for 15 yards. That’s right, you’re going to see Presley in nearly every phase of the game for the Pokes this season.
“I feel really comfortable,” Presley said of running punt and kick return. “Every time I get back there, my mindset is on taking the kick back. So, when I get back there, I’m just trying to make something happen because they trust me with the ball in my hands, so I want to pay it back and do what I can for the team.”
So, what goes into those returns for a guy who has the mindset of housing each and every kick? It all depends on where the kick winds up.
“Of course, I’m not gonna take one out if it’s seven or eight yards deep, because I also have to think about the other people out there blocking,” Presley said of when he returns kicks. “So, I don’t want to do too much with the ball, but sometimes if we go out there, I’ll be like ‘hey, I’m gonna return it.’ Sometimes if it’s like five [yards] deep, I’ll tell them that, but most of the time if I can catch it, I’ll usually take it out.”
Presley’s 36-yard return on Saturday was really just a few seconds away from being one of the few special teams touchdowns over the past few years.
“I felt very close [to breaking it,]” Presley said of his punt return on Saturday. “The way he kicked it, it looked like a squib, and he had been bombing it out the end zone. So, I thought it was gonna go line drive and sail past me, but it came up close. The last thing I want to do is go up and [the ball] hits my feet and bounces up, or like I bobble it and I have to stop. So, if it bounces and went over my head, I was gonna let it go, but it kind of bounced and came straight to me. I always think I can go until I’m on the ground.”
Don’t be surprised if he breaks one off for an even bigger gain over the coming weeks, or if he breaks one for a touchdown. He has the speed and ability to do so.
Something he learned very quickly about returning kicks and punts at the collegiate level is that it’s not high school.
Early in the second quarter, Presley fielded a punt and probably ran more than 25 yards trying to find an opening yet ended up losing three yards on the play.
“It’s not high school, it’s definitely not high school,” said Presley. “In high school, I could probably make that play and probably score, but this is not high school.”
"The one time that (Brennan) Presley ran 96 yards and ended up losing two, he shouldn't have been running,” coach Gundy said on Monday. “He should have fair caught it; we were in a safe look. I'm not mad at him. He's burning a lot of energy, but the point being is, he didn't need to do that.
Like a good portion of situations for him are going to be, it was a learning moment. He returned on a few special teams plays in 2020, but he’s the full-time guy in 2021. There’s going to be growing pains for Presley, but he told the media on Tuesday he learned a lot.
“I learned that it’s a lot,” Presley said of kick and punt returns and playing offense. “It’s a lot during the game; you can’t rest, necessarily, you kind of have to watch defense, wait for third downs, then get out there and catch the punt, and you return it or don’t, you get ready for offense. So, you always have to be in tuned to the game, you can never really let your guard down per se. It’s just a wave of emotion, sometimes you may get nervous, happy or scared, so it’s just kind of a wave of emotion for three or four hours, which is a little anxious and nerve-racking, but it’s all fun in the end.”