Maryland 2010

TONY LOGAN PUNT RETURN TRACKER (YARDS THROUGH EACH GAME) 2010
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Maryland 2009
The Terps are dangerous in the return game, with Torrey Smith back to handle the kickoffs and junior Tony Logan fielding punts. Both are gamebreakers if given the slightest crease, but Maryland averaged just six yards per punt return last year, which was 100th in the nation. Smith has averaged 26 yards per return the last two years, and has taken three back for touchdowns.

Logan finally hits stride?
The last time a Maryland punt returner took one to the house, well it was way back in the Gator Bowl when Steve Suter scampered 76 yards in the win over West Virginia in Jacksonville five years ago.

And Suter was back on Saturday at Byrd Stadium, as one of the honorary captains, and he nearly got to see his feat matched by Tony Logan.

With the Terps trying to hold off Clemson with a slim 17-13 lead, and the offense sluggish, Logan took a Clemson punt back 43 yards, just inches short of the goal line, sparking the Terps in a big way.

Davin Meggett scored three plays later for what would eventually be the determining score in the Terps' 24-21 upset win.

"I told him after the game that he [Meggett] owed me a touchdown," laughed Logan. "I mean, I practically handed him the ball at the goal line. I did the work, and he got the ball over."

Logan's return was the longest since Danny Oquendo's 45-yarder against Florida State in October of 2006, and the second longest for the Terps since the Gator Bowl.
Logan's previous best was in last year's Humanitarian Bowl, when he ran one back 15 yards against Nevada.

"He's our best guy at making people miss," said special teams coach Charles Bankins.

Logan's recent success has been at the expense of others' misfortunes. He got his chance in the bowl after Oquendo was benched from starting for a curfew violation, and he replaced Anthony Wiseman on Saturday after the senior mishandled his first punt. Both times, Logan has capitalized and raised his stock.

"I hope that the coaches believe in me now that I can do the job. I've showed them a few times now, and I feel that I deserve to be in there," said Logan.

After the Clemson punt traveled 34 yards, Logan was able to aggressively field it off a high bounce.

"He took to our coaching," said Bankins. "We coach our players to get it on the bounce if you can, and then set up your run."

Hoping to make a play and give the offense good field position is all Logan was trying to do.

"It was really satisfying for me because I needed to make a great play. It was probably the greatest play I've ever made in football. Hearing the crowd and realizing how close I got the ball to the end zone was unbelievable for me," said Logan. "It kind of turned the game around for us. We were up by a few and that got us in good field position for Davin to give us a better lead."

Logan has proven he has 'big-play' ability. He nearly broke one against Middle Tennessee State, and if he hadn't slipped on his first return against Clemson, he might have taken the ball deep into Clemson's side of the field.

After catching the ball off the bounce, Logan took a couple steps to his left and then darted back across the field, ending up just short of the goal line on the visitor's side. It was a bold, aggressive move, and something the Terps needed. Logan showed his quick first step and sub-4.5 40 speed. But best of all, his make-you-miss ability.

"I did what the coaches told me to do," said Logan. "I used a little bit of instinct as well. But I was just trying to do something in the game. I know the type of ability I have, and I feel pretty good now, so I just took the ball and ran for some space as hard as I could."

When he picked the ball out of the air, Clemson defenders were running hard to Logan's left, so he made a step and then moved back towards the right. Two times he made moves towards the middle of the field but then saw space to his right and ran for the corner.

"I tried to follow by blockers. I did set one or two up, but it was mostly running towards the holes. I wasn't really doing any freelancing out there, just trying to get some room to run. I thought I was in the end zone, but it didn't matter because we scored anyway."

Terps safety Terrell Skinner knows all too well how Logan can exploit a defender and make him miss.

"He's very elusive, very elusive. Tony, in the open field, is a nightmare," he said. "Having somebody that quick, you never know where he's going to go. "That run he made gave confidence to him, the fans, us and everybody. He won the game for us."

Logan had sealed the deal as the starter on punt returns after the bowl game, replacing the three-year starter Oquendo.

Logan has returned five punts for 69 yards for a 13.8-yard average.

"I can do better than that, and now I'm going to get my chance," he said.

For Logan, being a great punt returner isn't all about having speed.

"It's a combination of trust in the guys blocking for me and knowing what I can and can't do. Making the first guy miss is the key, and then it's making the transition after catching the ball. It's definitely turning on the speed when the space is there."

Logan is the one that has the best knack to make people miss.

"It takes guts to be back there," said Bankins. "He's got what it takes. Once he makes the catch he has good vision and gets things going for us.

Logan has been in the program for three years, now a junior academically and a sophomore athletically, Logan's path is about ready to take some turns.

"I'm trying to graduate early, I mean this spring, so I can go to grad school," he said. "I'll still have two years left of playing, but I want to be an analyst at the FBI or something. "My major is American Studies, and I'm focusing on Communications. A friend of mine works for the FBI in [Washington] D.C. making good money, so that's what I want to do, too."