Football coaches like dependability and smart decision making in their punt return men. Fans hope for some elusiveness, speed and risk taking. And it doesn't hurt if you have a nickname.

Josh Smith, the wide receiver with No. 1 on his back whom they call "J-Fly" in Boulder, hopes to provide all that next season for the Colorado football team. First, he must win the job, and doing so means beating out eight to 10 teammates and overcoming his fear.

Yes, Smith openly admits he settles underneath punts with trepidation in his veins. Maybe he deserves credit for demonstrating a little humanity in a sport in which most players wince at the idea of acknowledging fear. Staring up into the sky at a falling football and trying to catch it is just a little bit crazy, after all, when 200, 250 and 300-pound men are racing full throttle in your direction with bad intentions.

And Smith knows what it's like to take a hit. He's the guy who lacerated a kidney last summer running a corner route in the south end zone in Folsom Field sprinting straight into a concrete wall. Now in his first spring practice in the program, the player who might be the most exciting offensive talent on the roster is vying to get his hands on the ball a little bit more often.

"Secretly, I'm still kind of scared," Smith said Saturday after the Buffs first scrimmage. "I'm not going to lie. I've got to build some confidence with it. I know I have the ability and the speed and everything else, but punt return is basically all mental."

Each day the Buffs practice coaches set aside five or 10 minutes for a handful of running backs, wide receiversand cornerbacks to catch punts. Smith, Scotty McKnight and Cha'pelle Brown would appear to be the most likely to land the job next season, though redshirt freshman Lamont Smith and true freshman Rodney Stewart are serious candidates as well.

Smith will play only his fourth full season of organized football in 2008. He started in the sport as a junior in high school, but he has come a long way in a short time. He has experience returning punts at the high school level. But he will tell you that experience was both good and bad.

"I did very well at it in high school, but I dropped one and I felt like everyone in the world hated me in that game. Once you drop one in a game, you just never seem to forget that."

Like every other job on the team outside of punter and longsnapper, this one won't be decided until the middle of August, giving Smith and the others plenty of time to practice, gain confidence and try to become as dependable as departed senior Chase McBride. Coach Dan Hawkins could count on one hand the number of punts McBride allowed to slip through his fingers from the beginning of spring last year until the end of the season.

Punt return isn't the only part of the game that has Smith excited this spring. He is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his nephew, running back Darrell Scott, who will join the program as a running back this summer. Smith is also expecting to get the ball thrown his way a few more times each game thanks to a hurry-up system the team is working on.

Smith caught 23 passes for a whopping 451 yards as a true freshman in 2007, a 19.6-yard average. He didn't score a touchdown, but he believes the drought will end relatively early next fall.

"I think the new offense is made partly for the receivers," Smith said. "A lot of every game is going to highly depend on us to show up and be able to catch the ball.

"I feel like once the ball is my hands, that's a good decision."

Notable

Linebacker B.J. Beatty has missed the past week of spring practices because of a death in the family. Beatty should return this week and Hawkins said several other linebackers, who are in his mentoring program, could return as well. The team has been practicing with only seven of the 14 players listed as linebackers, but Travis Sandersfield is working as a safety. ... ... The Buffs are scheduled to practice today, Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. and will conduct the second scrimmage of spring Saturday in Folsom Field (or the bubble if weather is bad) at 1 p.m.