Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Michigan may still have a lot of questions when it comes to different facets of its team but there is one area it has an answer: Kick return.

Few positions were more maligned last season than Michigan’s returners, from fumbling to falling down to flat out flailing. Making any sort of - gasp - touchdown run was almost unfathomable.

That’s no longer an issue due to a sophomore from Texas, Darryl Stonum.

Stonum has been somewhat overlooked when it comes to why Michigan has been a better team this season. Much like a serve in tennis or an inbounds pass in basketball, the offense becomes useless - or at least put in more precarious situations - when a team can’t produce a good, consistent return. Or, when a team can’t hold on to the ball.

So after Michigan had these issues a season ago, an open tryout was held within the team searching for guys who could catch and go.

Stonum tried out. Now, 30.1 yards-per-return later, he’s seems cemented there for the rest of his Michigan career.

“We were hoping that and he’s got great speed and very productive in that out of high school,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “But Darryl, and this is a second-year player, as they get older sometimes some of the things you hoped would happen and that they’d develop comes to fruition.”

With Stonum, Michigan usually has started its drives between its own 30 and 40 yard lines, better than it’d be with a touchback and usually one or two cuts or blocks from being a touchdown.

Then again, Stonum did that once already. In his only kick return against Notre Dame, Stonum received a good block and then used his speed to outrun everyone else for 94 yards and a kick return touchdown.

“It’s a great feeling,” Stonum said. “Once you get to the second level and all you have to do is make one guy miss and you see yourself going up the field and you see the Michigan on the end zone and home free.”

What Stonum does might be one of the most difficult skills in football. Unlike catching a pass from a receiver or even a punt, being a kick returner requires being able to catch a ball flying at you end-over-end. It relies faith in blockers to set up holes and keep you from being drilled.

And it is the highest potential for being completely crushed, since opponents can have 60 yards of full speed running behind them when they try to hit you.

So it takes a certain type of player. Stonum’s been that kind of player since middle school, when he first became a returner of any kind.

It was during a rivalry game - yes, a middle school rivalry game - when coaches put Stonum, then a seventh grader, back there in the fourth quarter to receive a punt.

“We ended up winning that game,” Stonum said. “I was pretty happy.”

Then, and even in high school at Dulles in Texas, it was all about speed. Stonum was one of the fastest players Dulles had, so coaches put him back there and told him to run.

Now, it is much more nuanced. Stonum studies tape of opposing kickers and kick coverage teams. He tries to figure out which corner kickoff guys prefer, so he can make sure to line up closer to that side.

Then, Michigan sets up its wedge with two guys. He also has guards on the outside setting up blocks. If the wedge is there, he takes off between it. If not, he leans to a guard’s side, tries to bounce off a block and take it more down the sideline.

It’s more of an art than a specific strategy. More instinct than design. And it’s led him to be, five weeks into the season, the 15th best kick returner in the country statistically.

His skills have given Michigan field position, a reliable catcher fielding kicks and maybe most importantly, a guy who can change the course of the game.

Any time he touches the ball.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.