By David MorrisonThe Daily Northwestern
Freshman Sherrick McManis returns kicks.
He is one of the team’s top gunners on punt return coverage.
He even mans the cornerback position in some of Northwestern’s defensive sets.
All in a day’s work for a player nicknamed “Batman” by his teammates and coaches.
“He’s everywhere,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “All of a sudden, bam! There’s Batman. There he is again. Players make plays, and he’s a player.”
Fitzgerald’s excitement is understandable. On a team which has shown significant lapses on offense, defense and special teams at times, it’s taken a true freshman to emerge as the surprise of the season’s first half.
“I love returning kicks,” McManis said. “I love running the ball, period. So when I get my chance I try to take advantage of it.”
McManis is doing his best to optimize his chances. He’s second on the team in all-purpose yards and he’s only touched the ball 14 times.
He ranks 36th in the nation in kick return average, with 23.9 yards, and has returns of 40, 45 and 47 yards in the last four weeks. He has won NU’s special teams player of the week award four times in a row.
And he’s doing it all while recovering from a broken right hand, on which he wears large cast.
“There is a man with a hand ailment and doesn’t use it as a crutch,” Fitzgerald said. “He is making plays out there every time he is touching the ball.”
McManis started the season opener against Miami (Ohio) and sat out against New Hampshire.
He returned the next week and picked up 58 yards on two returns. Through six games, McManis has seven of the team’s 23 plays that have gone for 20 or more yards.
McManis said the cast doesn’t affect the way he catches the ball much. He’s having a harder time with left-handed handshakes.
“I made a slight adjustment,” he said, “and now it’s all right.”
To sophomore Omar Conteh, McManis’ performance is more than all right. Conteh gets a good view of McManis’ runbacks as the second back on the kick return team.
He’s the Robin to McManis’ Batman, saying, “I’m just here to protect him.”
Conteh also said he was impressed by McManis’ preparation and willingness to learn.
“He’s always focused,” Conteh said. “As a freshman, I would think he’d be a little scared and dropping balls. But he’s caught every one.”
On any given return, McManis has to consider a spiraling football arching rapidly down at him, whether the kick is shallow enough to elicit a return and what seams are opening up on the field.
And the 11 special-teams torpedoes from the other team bearing down on him.
McManis said the help he receives from his blockers simplifies his job.
“I have a lot of confidence that they’re going to get their blocks,” he said. “I just know I’ve got to catch the ball. If you think about it too much, mistakes happen.”
NU recruited McManis as a shut-down cornerback out of Richwoods High School in Peoria, Ill. But his main position in high school was running back, where he ran for 1,690 yards and 24 touchdowns in his senior season.
Fitzgerald said he’s trying to get McManis on the field more often on defense and could try him out on offense in the future.
But he doesn’t want to rush his development.
“I think that would be a little bit too much on his plate,” Fitzgerald said.
While he is anxious to get a chance at more playing time, McManis said he also is more than willing to wait his turn.
“I know my time will come,” he said. “I’m patient, and I’ll just keep improving.”
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
