Cornerbacks don’t have the ball in their hands all the time, so it’s hard to blame Keionte Scott for being so anxious to make a play. As Auburn’s punt returner, he stands back on his own all the way down the field, waiting for the ball to come to him and thinking about how he can impact the game with the ball in his hands.

One problem. Scott was so giddy to start his return that he well, didn’t exactly make sure he had control of the ball.

Fumbles were a key issue for Scott as a returner in 2022. He muffed two punts last season. Catching punts is something Scott said he had to work on over the offseason.

“I had to learn a fair catch is not a bad play,” Scott said on Monday. “I felt like last year I was too antsy to make a play, like I was forcing it. This year it’ll be more of a — hey, if I get the opportunity, I’ll make the play. If it hangs up there, make the fair catch and get the offense on the field.”

It was a focus on confidence underneath the sailing ball, Scott said, that helped him improve this year, compared to plays like missed punt in last year’s Iron Bowl.

Scott says he has that confidence now, and he showed it Saturday.

Standing inside Auburn’s 30-yard-line, Scott fielded a UMass punt that bounced a few yards in front of him. His blockers immediately created a seam which Scott burst through before cutting left around the Auburn 45-yard-line. He swung all the way over to the left sideline and kept racing past the potential UMass tacklers all the way to inside the UMass redzone.

The 56-yard return set up for a touchdown from quarterback Robby Ashford, and the beginning of Auburn pulling away UMass for good.

“Oh, 100%,” Scott said when asked if he thought he could have scored on the return. “I watched it 60 times on Sunday to see if I could’ve cut it back. I don’t think I could have. But I’m definitely excited this year. I’m looking to get into the end zone, for sure.

There too was Brian Battie, a transfer from USF who quickly slotted in as Auburn’s top kick returner. He had previously been an All-American at the position.

He too, quickly gave Auburn a boost on special teams as he brought the game’s opening kickoff from deep in the endzone out to Auburn’s 38-yard-line. It set up Auburn with good field position to ultimately score a touchdown via a Damari Alston run on the game’s opening drive.

Battie had 117 all-purpose yards in the win — 86 of which were kick return yards. He averaged 29 yards per return. Scott finished with 67 punt return yards over his two punts.

“I thought our special teams, the positives were we started really fast,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said in his Monday press conference. “I think we had 131 return yards in the first quarter, which is pretty awesome. Average first half starting field position was the plus-35, plus-48 for the whole game. So that’s really good.”

But compare that to Auburn’s return stats from a year ago to see just how much of an impact Battie and Scott gave Auburn on special teams.

As a team, Auburn averaged 8.5 yards per punt return last year. That was the 55th-best rate in the nation and eighth in the SEC.

The 17.22 yards per kick return Auburn averaged last year was the second-worst in the SEC and ranked 114th nationally out of 130 teams.

Sure, it’s just one game, but fast forward one season.

Battie’s average kickoff returns put Auburn fifth in the SEC and 22nd nationally. Scott’s punt return average was third-best in the nation and second-best in the SEC.

Their returns set up multiple Auburn touchdowns on a day where the team went on to score 59 points. The last time Auburn even scored more than 45 points was putting up 60 on Sept. 11, 2021, against Alabama A&M.

Battie was never one of Auburn’s most talked about transfers. He’s listed as the third running back on Auburn’s depth chart. But as one of the nation’s better kick returns, something he’s proven throughout his career, he is setting up Auburn’s offense in strong positions.

And Scott seems to be making sure he has the ball in his hands before making big plays, these days.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]