By LARRY VAUGHT

How good is Kentucky’s Randall Cobb at returning punts?

If Kentucky special teams coach Steve Ortmayer is right, he’s very good — probably even better than most of us realize.

“We are thin in the punt return area, but Randall Cobb as a starter is about as good as there is. We wouldn’t necessarily need to trade Randall for anybody in this league,” Ortmayer said. “Our kickoff return guys, we feel that we have at least four guys that are going to be real good at it. It will probably be handled mostly by Guy, Locke and Alfonso Smith. All three can run and all are experienced and all want to do it. But with punts, Cobb is our guy.”

That’s because Ortmayer says Cobb, a sophomore, is comparable to former UK great return specialist Derek Abney. While he returned both punts and kickoffs, Abney had many of the same traits as Cobb.

“Except Cobb is faster guy and bigger guy than Derek was. But there are similarities. They both have good quickness. Punt return is a quickness game. Kickoff return is a speed game. Randall Cobb and Derek Abney have great quickness. They also have a tenaciousness. Both are tough guys,” Ortmayer said.

So he really wouldn’t trade Cobb for any player in the league?

“I don’t know if I said I wouldn’t trade him for any player, but we don’t need to do that. The kid at Alabama (Javier Arenas)  is good and a tough guy. He plays every down of defense and returns. That’s impressive. But I’m very, very happy to have Cobb returning punts here and let’s leave it at that,” Ortmayer said.

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