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http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/08/09/sports/sports04.txt
In three seasons at Minnesota, Maroney returned only 28 kickoffs with 16 of those coming as a freshman. Still, he averaged 23.8 yards for his career, including a robust 25.8 yards as a freshman, when he had an 88-yard runback.
‘‘I think he’d be a great kickoff-return guy’’ in the NFL, said Vic Adamle, Maroney’s position coach at Minnesota. ‘‘He could have been our punt-return guy. He was our emergency punt-return guy. We didn’t utilize him as much (there) as we probably should have.’’
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As for the risk of injury, Belichick brushed that aside.
‘‘What’s going to happen when you hand them the ball?’’ Belichick said. ‘‘They still have 11 guys chasing them. That’s what (a back) does, he runs with the ball. Good runners have a way of running with it and running with power, but somehow avoiding those big hits. That’s what makes them good runners. You have a lot more space to work with on a kickoff return than you do sometimes on an in-line play.’’