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The guts of the special teams – kickers, punters and deep snappers – are historically scarce on draft day. This year is no exception. But the return board is deep, and there are plenty of quality kick covermen.

Many of college football's best players suffer culture shock in the NFL. They were three-down players on campus, specializing in offense or defense, with the underclassmen doing most of the dirty work on special teams.

But few arrive in the NFL as walk-in starters, so most find themselves covering kicks for the first time in a long time. Playing on fourth down is new to them.

But not the players from Virginia Tech. Coach Frank Beamer has always placed a premium on the kicking game. His starters are not exempt from special teams.

The kicking game has become an edge for the Hokies in their evolution into a national power. They blocked more kicks in the 1990s than any other Division I program and have scored 40 TDs on special teams in Beamer's 21-year tenure.

WRs Eddie Royal and Josh Morgan, OT Duane Brown and LB Xavier Adibi could be drafted in the first three rounds, and all bring special teams skill to the NFL.

Royal was the All-Atlantic Coast Conference return specialist with a 14.7-yard punt return average and two TDs. Brown blocked three kicks in his career and Morgan blocked two punts. Adibi served as the protector on the punting team.

"Special teams were big for me in high school," Royal said. "I returned kicks. And Coach Beamer is the best at it. He's taught me so much. I don't think the transition to the next level will be so hard."

Leodis McKelvin, Troy: If an NFL team wants a punt returner, DeSean Jackson is the choice. If it wants a kick returner, Felix Jones is the choice. But if a team wants both in one player, it's Leodis McKelvin. He returned six punts and one kickoff for TDs, averaging 13.7 yards on punts and 23.7 yards on kickoffs. "I'm the best return man coming in this draft," McKelvin said. "I can do the things Devin Hester is doing right now."

Piotr Czech, K, Wagner: The NFL already knows Czech can handle a longer season and increased workload. Nobody kicked the ball more than Czech the last four years. He handled both the kicking and the punting chores for the Football Championship Subdivision school – 88 kickoffs, 248 punts, 116 extra points and 87 field goal tries. He was a two-time All-Northeast Conference kicker and one-time punter.

Robert Killebrew, OLB, Texas: The Spring-ex is undersized (6-1, 225) to play every down. But he does have the ability to be a special teams ace. He blocked three kicks and scored a TD on a blocked punt return. Draft projection: 6-7 rounds.

2. Lewis Baker, OLB, OU (and Carrolton): Draft projection: 7th round/free agent.

3. Garrett Hartley, K, OU (and Southlake): Draft projection: 7/FA.

Hail to the champions: Three NCAA return champions are on this draft board. Kevin Robinson of Utah State led the NCAA in punt returns in 2007, as did DeSean Jackson of Cal in 2006. Also, Jonathan Stewart of Oregon led the NCAA in kickoff returns in 2005. Robinson also finished second in the nation in punt returns in 2004, and Felix Jones of Arkansas was second in kickoff returns in 2005.

The returners: There are 32 players in this draft who returned a kickoff or a punt for a touchdown in their college careers. Troy's Leodis McKelvin and Robinson are tops with seven apiece. They are the only players in this draft who scored in college on both punt and kickoff returns. Jackson scored six TDs on punt returns and Jones four on kickoffs. Kansas State's Jordy Nelson returned only nine punts in his college career, but two of them went for touchdowns.

The kickers: The Groza Award goes to the nation's best college kicker. There are two Groza Award winners in this draft – Louisville's Art Carmody in 2006 and Oregon State's Alex Serna in 2005. Each left campus as his school's all-time leading scorer, as did Dan Carpenter at Montana and Shane Longest at Xavier (Ill.). In addition, Garrett Hartley of Oklahoma set a Texas high school record for extra points in a season at Southlake Carroll with 90, and Connor Barth of North Carolina set a North Carolina high school record for field goals in both a season (20) and career (38).

The punters: Durant Brooks won the Ray Guy Award as college football's best punter last season. A junior college transfer, Brooks set an ACC record for career punting average at 45.3 yards. Mike Dragosavich leaves North Dakota as the school's all-time leading punter, with an average of 44.5. There are a couple openings in the state of Kansas for punters these days. Tim Reyer of Kansas State and Kyle Tucker of Kansas have held down the punting positions for the last four seasons. Tucker punted 223 times and Reyer 220.

The deep snappers: Nick Jarvis spent the last four seasons as the deep snapper at Wake Forest. In 2005, he delivered 67 perfect snaps to Guy Award winner Ryan Plackemeier. Jon O'Brien of New Mexico also was a four-year deep snapper, as was Tyler Schmitt of San Diego State. Schmitt can be a factor in kick coverage, as well. He led the state of Arizona in sacks as a senior in high school with 20. Russell Wilson did not have a bad snap in his final two seasons at Appalachian State, covering 286 kicking attempts.

Kick covermen: Matt Slater was UCLA's special teams ace in kick coverage. He also was the first-team All-Pac-10 return specialist with a 29-yard average on kickoffs and a conference season record three touchdowns. Oregon State's Gerard Lawson returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in 2006 and blocked a punt in 2007. LSU's Jacob Hester was a 1,000-yard rusher on college football's best team in 2007. But he continued to play special teams all four years and finished with 38 career tackles in the kicking game. "That's something I've always embraced," Hester said. "I played defense in high school and still have that mentality."

The kick blockers: Cal safety Thomas DeCoud, Notre Dame defensive tackle Trevor Laws and Appalachian State safety Corey Lynch all blocked six kicks in their careers. "It's 8 percent luck and 92 percent skill," DeCoud said. "It's timing your jump when the kicker is taking his steps."

Shaky start: Louisville's Art Carmody had his very first college kick blocked in 2004. "That was my introduction to college football," Carmody said. "But I stayed with it, and everything worked out for me." Indeed. Carmody went on to successfully execute 253 conversion kicks and 60 field goal attempts to finish his career as the NCAA's all-time kick scorer with 433 points.

Moving around: Three specialists started their college careers at one school but finished at another. Punter Andrew Larson transferred from Wyoming to Cal, punter Chris McDonald transferred from Arizona State to Texas State, and kicker John Sullivan transferred from San Jose State to New Mexico. McDonald was honored in both conferences; he was academic All-Pac-10 in 2004 and All-Southland Conference twice for his kicking (2006-07).

Walking on: Sullivan walked on at New Mexico and wound up leading the NCAA in field goals last season with 29. Serna walked on and finished as the second all-time leading scorer in Pac-10 history with 384 points. Sullivan's deep snapper at New Mexico, O'Brien, also was a walk-on. Brandon Coutu walked on at Georgia and wound up the most accurate field goal kicker in school history, converting 80.3 percent of his 66 career attempts.

All about net: Dragosavich's 44.5-yard career punting average at North Dakota State was a superb individual achievement. His kicks earned him All-Great West acclaim three times. But Dragosavich was more impressed with his 35.9-yard career net average and 61 punts inside the 20 punts. "Net [average] is more important than gross," Dragosavich said. "We're not out there competing in an Olympic sport that's an individual event. It's a team effort. Field position, inside the 20 [punts], inside the 10 are what's important."

K-kicker; P-punter; KR-kick returner; PR-punt returner; KC-kick coverage; KB-kick blocker; DS-deep snapper