PISCATAWAY -- Look at the close games that Rutgers lost last season and you are likely to find a devastating miscue in kicking or punting that made a big difference.

Minnesota returned a 94-yard kickoff for the go-ahead touchdown in a 34-32 win.

On three second-half touchdown drives in a 33-27 comeback win, Indiana's average starting field position was its 47-yard line.

Even in the not-so-close losses, Rutgers allowed a punt return and a kickoff return for a touchdown against Washington, had a blocked punt result in a gift-wrapped touchdown against Penn State, and had a punt return for a touchdown against Maryland.

"We have to get better at snapper and kicker," coach Chris Ash said after Thursday's seventh spring practice, "but we have to get better at the coverage part of it with our players. I don't like to say it has to be the kicker, and the kick has to be perfect.

"We have to go cover. We have to be able to get off blocks. We have to be able to tackle as kickoff coverage and punt coverage. We spend an insane amount of time in the spring trying to get that fixed and get that better and identify the guys who can do it."

Special teams coverage is the area where Rutgers' startling lack of team speed was most exposed in 2016. Much more so than in defending deep passes or breaking off big runs.

While speed work is a big part of Rutgers offseason strength and conditioning program, the best trainers only shave fractions of a second off of a 40-yard dash time.

Speed is recruited, and Rutgers emphasized quickness in its 2017 recruiting class, which means several true freshmen might break in on special teams once training camp starts.

But Rutgers isn't waiting around for reinforcements when it has an entire spring camp to improve on special teams.

"Everywhere I've been you work on that a lot," Ash said. "You don't work on necessarily schemes of the special teams, but you work on fundamentals and technique. Everyone does it different. What we do here is we work a lot on the fundamentals of the special teams."

Special teams coordinator Vince Okruch is expected to address the media after Saturday's practice, but different Rutgers position coaches handle different special teams responsibilities. Ash himself coached kickoff last season.

The division of labor on special teams is a popular choice on coaching staffs around the country, though Ash's predecessors treated special teams coordinator as more than an organizational role.

"Our kickoff coverage and our punt coverage," Ash said, "they are working a lot on the fundamentals and just being able to get off blocks and make tackles. Having people in the right position is so important to eliminate space for a return."

Rutgers ranked last in the Big Ten with a net average of 34 yards on kickoffs and last with a net average of 32.3 yards on punts.

Of course, some of the blame for last season falls at the feet of the returning kickers, who will be joined in June by graduate transfer punter Ryan Anderson and freshman walk-on kicker Justin Davidovicz.

Rutgers was at the bottom with four kickoff touchbacks -- all by David Bonagura, who split the job with Jared Smolar -- compared to Michigan's 53 at the other end of the spectrum.

"Kicker is another real concern right now," Ash said. "We're not where we need to be. We won't have the true competition that we want and need on the football field until the fall when a couple new guys come in and get thrown into the mix.

Punter Michael Cintron set a Big Ten record with 95 punts but Rutgers' average distance on a total of 97 punts was a conference-worst 37.3 yards.

"Michael Cintron has gotten better," Ash said. "He just needs to work on his consistency. When he hits them, he hits them pretty good."

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.