The Illinois football team held open tryouts in practice this week to fill the void of punt and kick returner. Defensive back Tommy Davis was benched after muffing another punt this past Saturday against Indiana, and the job is now up for grabs. Head coach Tim Beckman announced Monday that either Darius Millines or Terry Hawthorne would take over the return duties, but it appears the Illini are going to weigh all their options before they make a decision.

Special teams was the one thing that was supposed to get better under the new Illinois coaching staff. Beckman’s staff mandates that defensive starters also spend some time on special teams. Defensive tackle Akeem Spence is seen as one of the leaders of Illinois’ special teams unit.

Last year, the Illini struggled to punt the ball deep and never had a true punter through the season. That’s improved as the Illini will enter Saturday’s game in first place in the Big Ten in punting averaging 39 yards per punt, behind the leg of Justin DuVernois.

Where the Illini have struggled is in punt returning, which special teams coach Tim Salem just can’t figure out why.

His reputation from Central Florida precedes itself. In 2011, UCF had one of the top kickoff return units in the nation, and a Knights player has been a first-team all-Conference USA pick as a kick returner three of the past four years.

Salem has kept the same blocking scheme as he’s always used and is puzzled as to why it’s not working at Illinois. He thought he’d spent enough time in the spring and in August to get the Illini past their struggles. They’ve finished last in the Big Ten the past three seasons in punt returns.

And they’re also last this year, averaging a mere 1.8 yards per return. He’s joked that he’s losing weight too — like Beckman — trying to figure out the solution.

“It takes 11 guys to play,” Salem said. “If 10 guys do it right and one guy does it wrong, it can screw the whole play up. You can go back and watch the video clips of our returns, I mean it’s just always one guy and it’s not the same guy. … It’s always just one guy who blew an assignment.”

Salem has made changes and adjustments every week in the blocking schemes and admitted that open-field blocking may be one of the Illini’s weaknesses.

“No. 1 (priority) is just making sure you field the ball, and every time the ball hits the ground, you just lessen your chance of winning,” Salem said. “Obviously, we’ve had a few muffed punts, we’ve fumbled and turned the ball over in critical games, critical situations and gave up field position. The return game is not up to par.”

However, Salem was quick to defend Davis and his intensity as a competitor on the football field. The coaches have chalked up his mistakes to trying too hard to create a spark for Illinois.

Salem echoed Beckman when he said Davis feels worse than anyone else on the team about his ineffectiveness as returner.

02.The Illini aren’t exactly sure who will be returning punts from Ohio State on Saturday, assuming the Buckeyes are forced to punt.

Salem wasn’t too keen on the idea of using two punt returners deep because it takes away a blocker from the line of scrimmage. However, he said it’s in the playbook and the Illini used the two-man punt returner against Louisiana Tech earlier this year, mostly because Illinois saw on film that the Bulldogs’ punter sprayed the ball all over the field.

Salem said the Illini have come out in practice eager to get the special team’s woes corrected, which he was pleased to see because special teams practice in late October isn’t exactly what gets most teams fired up.

“We’re spending time and giving it some due diligence,” Salem said. “The problem is it’s not showing up in the results, and that is the bottom line. Saturday is what counts.”

Jamal can be reached at [email protected] and @JamalCollier.