Top 2018 Moments - Peter Pan - University of North Texas Athletics

DENTON - As fall camp approaches, with players reporting on August 1, MeanGreenSports.com takes a look back at some of the biggest moments from the 2018 season. Over the last five weeks, MeanGreenSports.com has relived each of these key moments from the nine-win season last year. We conclude our series by saving the best for last – a play that will go down in North Texas lore simply as "Peter Pan."

On Sept. 15, 2018, the Mean Green truly arrived on the national stage, marching into Fayetteville and handing Arkansas a 44-17 beat down that really wasn't even that close. The first thing that comes to mind from the landmark win over an SEC foe is most likely the 90-yard punt return for a touchdown by Keegan Brewer in the first quarter.

Sure, a punt return for a touchdown is always exciting, but with the Mean Green leading 7-0 with 7:10 to go in the opening quarter, Brewer's return captured the attention of college football fans across the country due to its unique nature.

How it Happened:

After months of preparation from concept, through practice and finding the right moment to pull this trick out of the bag, special teams coordinator Marty Biagi knew that Arkansas was the time to go for it – assuming the right situation presented itself.

In this case, with Arkansas electing to punt from the UNT 37-yard line, Biagi and head coach Seth Littrell made the call – Peter Pan.

The return, which has been referred to as a "fake-fair catch" didn't actually involve a fake signal of any sort, however, Brewer's actions upon catching the ball at his own 10, were designed to convince the Razorbacks that he had indeed signaled for the fair catch.

Key to the success of this play, was making sure that he remained in motion. To avoid an official blowing the play dead, Brewer kept his feet moving (slowly), creating the sense that he was about to head to the sideline. All the while, the return unit moved to create a convoy along the UNT sideline, as Arkansas players walked past on the way back to their bench.

Brewer then waited for a handful of opponents to cross in front of him before taking off behind the horde of Mean Green blockers on the far sideline. With only a few Razorbacks still even on that side of the field, Brewer cruised into the end zone for the third-longest punt return in program history.

Brewer exhibited a lot of courage, as many variables could have easily derailed Biagi's best-laid plans.

Had an Arkansas gunner noticed that there was no signal, Brewer would have been an easy target for a fairly big hit.
An errant whistle could have killed the play before it even really got started. Brewer's ability to maintain movement after receiving the punt meant a whistle shouldn't be blown, but inadvertent whistles certainly do happen.
The Mean Green sideline could have had someone wander onto the field at the perceived dead ball after the possession change, drawing a flag for too many men on the field during the return.
The play could have fooled some, but not all of the Razorbacks punt coverage unit, and only worked for a modest return.

But, Brewer took off, shot out of a cannon, and his convoy led the way, executing the few blocks necessary to create the clear path to paydirt.

North Texas seized a 14-0 lead early on, shocking and silencing the Fayetteville fateful. Despite Arkansas pulling within a field goal in the second quarter at 17-14, the Mean Green ripped off 27 consecutive points and despite allowing a garbage time score, blew out the Hogs to move to 3-0 and pick up a signature win over a Power Five opponent for the program, thanks largely in part to Brewer's return as well as the defense's six interceptions.

What They Said:

PR Keegan Brewer (following the game) – "It was a whole team effort because we worked on it all week, trying to see if I'd be able to execute and act like there was a fair catch. We wanted to other team to think, 'oh, he caught it,' and start to run off the field. We knew when to trigger and it was a team effort with everyone getting their blocks, so there was nothing much to it besides executing it again.

"We've practiced it a lot and it's been in the back of Coach Biagi's head and we've talked about it, but this was the first time we were planning on actually doing it. One of them [an Arkansas player who walked past him] actually asked me why they hadn't blown the whistle and I just didn't say anything, I just kind of like 'I don't know.' As soon as he passed me, I knew it was go-time.

"There was definitely a thought in the back of my head that I could get hit, but the way the punter punted it was actually perfect because he shot it low, so even if I didn't fair catch it, I'd still have time to run, so I wasn't too worried about it. Before the game I thought it could be bad, but it turned out to be good.

"We were already up 7-0, so I knew as soon as I got that it was definitely putting our foot down showing who we are, so it was a big bit of momentum. About halfway through the run I was thinking this was going to work. I was surprised actually and then when we scored, I couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic about it jumping around and stuff, so it was fun.

"Coach Biagi told me, 'hey it's going to work.' You could ask JD [Jaelon Darden], my roommate, I told him 'Dude I'm kind of nervous about it, but it ended up working, so, I liked it and it wasn't too bad."

Head Coach Seth Littrell (following the game) – "That's a play we've had in our book. You have to give Keegan a lot of credit. It takes guts to stand back there and not call a fair catch, not knowing if someone is going to bust you. It's just awesome to see that unfold. When something like that works, it builds your confidence.

"It's awesome to see something work that you've prepared for with Marty getting the right play and working it all week. Like Mason [Fine] said, everyone was trying to see if this thing really works and for it to pay off like that it only juices your team up even more and gets them excited. They were so happy to see that return and I was too – it was fun to watch, that's for sure. I got to be a fan on that play as well.

"We're going play aggressive and be aggressive. I believe that as coaches you've got to try to put your guys in great situations to be successful. They're not all going to work – we have some bad calls at times, but if you're not willing to try them, what is going to work?"

Special Teams Coordinator Marty Biagi (during an appearance on Fox 4) – "We had seen some things in the opponent breakdown we were doing and had kind of had this in our back pocket for a while. We felt like this was an opportunity this week where if the right scenario presented itself, we could get it done and execute.

"I did [talk to the officials], I just wanted to make sure. Before every game, the officials talk to both sides and I just wanted to make sure that they knew exactly what we were going to do, so there really wouldn't be any inadvertent whistles. We told them about it and they kind of looked at us and they told us 'there's a chance you could get this kid killed,' and we said no, we were good and had this planned out, we just wanted to make sure and I'm glad that we did. I'm glad the officials did their part and made sure they locked in and that there was no inadvertent whistle.

"I had gone out and visited coach [Larry] Fedora back in May at North Carolina and so we were talking about different kinds of punt returns. That's really where I started to find out that they had done it or tried it, but it wasn't as much of a full team effort. More so, he had just kind of told his returner 'hey, let's try this.' When I came back and really looked at it, it kind of felt like something we could do. I knew it'd have to really be a technical really detail-oriented play for it to excel.

"There was a lot of acting. We kind of told people in stages. I told Keegan and our other punt returner that was practicing pretty much all summer and all August in fall camp. We would just stay out after practice and just catch reps over and over again, or I'd be running into them, just anything to think of any scenario that could happen. Throughout the week we told the punt return team and Thursday I told Mason [Fine] about it. As the leader of the offense, I told him he can't run out onto the field because I'd seen that a lot when I was studying to see if it would work. He did a great job and said, 'hey coach, I'll back you,' and then Friday we put it in to the whole team. We did several reps of it at our clap session and then Saturday we touched on it again – it was great."

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Top 2018 Moments - Peter Pan

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