It takes a special kind of player to return kickoffs.
Opponents are able to get a full head of steam and collisions can be bone-rattling.
So it requires fearlessness along with speed and shiftiness.
It is an important job because it dictates field position.
A good kickoff return gives your offense momentum and a shorter field in which to try to rack up points.
The University of Maine has a very good kickoff returner in Trevin Ewing, a third team All-Coastal Athletic Association selection a year ago and an All-CAA preseason choice this year.
Last season, he returned 27 kickoffs for 742 yards, an average of 27.5 per game. He had a 98-yard return for a touchdown against Monmouth.
He had four other returns of at least 35 yards and two of at least 60 yards.
He has returned 81 kickoffs for 1,942 yards in his career at UMaine.
Ewing said he loves returning kickoffs.
“It helps me show my athleticism. It’s another range of game,” said Ewing, a senior from Elkton, Maryland.
He said the key to being a productive kickoff returner is vision.
“That’s the main thing. You have to be able to read the field and be one step ahead of the guy who is coming to tackle you,” Ewing said. “You have to be elusive to make people miss.”
He also said you have to “trust the scheme” which is the blocking scheme and the channel that is chosen for the return.
Ewing is also a wide receiver and had 10 catches for 182 yards last season. He led the team in yards per catch at 18.2.
That included a 64-yard reception against New Hampshire, a 45-yarder against Albany and a 27-yard catch against Montana State.
“He’s an explosive guy on special teams and he is also going to be a great receiver for us,” said UMaine graduate student quarterback Carter Peevy. ”He wins deep balls constantly and he is always stretching the defense and making them respect the deep ball. That’s only going to help us.”
His best season as a receiver came in 2023 when he caught 17 passes for 243 yards.
UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens called the speedy Ewing a “big time kick returner”’ and he is looking for him to take the next step in becoming a prominent receiver.
“He has put himself in position to do it. He had a great offseason,” Stevens said.
Stevens noted that Ewing has been at UMaine five years and said he is “really proud” of Ewing and how he has grown and developed as a young man.
“And it is showing on the field,” Stevens said.
With UMaine having lost its top two pass catchers in Montigo Moss and Joe Gillette, Ewing knows the opportunity is there for him to be a primary target.
“I’m definitely going to have a bigger role in the receiver game. I’m going to help the other guys who are stepping up. We have a lot of shoes to fill but we’re going to do our best,” said the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Ewing, who also plans to take on more of a leadership role.
“I want to help lead the younger guys,” said Ewing.
Ewing is glad Peevy came back for a second year after transferring in from Mercer University (Georgia) so “we can build on that timing and chemistry.”
UMaine opens the season at Liberty University on August 30.
