Weatherford helping young punt returners along

One more post about the punt returning:

One of the guys who is working with the returners is Steve Weatherford, whose job is normally to keep the ball away from dangerous players.

“I think it’s giving them a little veteran advice,” Weatherford said of his role. “Those guys are young. We’ve got Rueben Randle, Jayron Hosley, and JJ [Jerrel Jernigan]. So I think all of them are incredibly talented, but at this point it’s just keeping your confidence. After having something like that where you fumble a punt, you can lose your confidence. Once you lose your confidence, it’s hard to get it back. I think just staying positive with those guys and encouraging them and trying to get them as many reps as they can, that’s huge for them right now.

“I think that just about the best athlete on every team is going to be the guy that’s returning kicks and punts,” Weatherford added. “They’re very talented, but I think it’s more of a mental game at this point than it is anything else. We just want to keep them positive, continue to encourage them and, like I said, get them as many repetitions and as much practice as possible.”