Florida football endured numerous special teams substitution gaffes during the 2023 season.
It began in the season opener with two players with the same number entering on a punt coverage unit against Utah, a critical penalty that sustained a TD drive for the Utes in their 24-11 win over the Florida Gators.
It continued when Florida had 20 players rush out onto the field for a game-winning field goal attempt against Arkansas. The illegal substitution penalty moved the kick back five yards, and kicker Trey Smack missed a 41-yard attempt in an eventual overtime loss to the Razorbacks.
In between, Florida had instances when only 10 players lined up for field goal and extra point block attempts.
To help solve that problem, new Florida special teams analyst Joe Houston said the Gators will use a “launch pad” on the sidelines. It’s essentially a Twister-like mat which spots all 11 players on kick block coverage, or 10 players on punt and kick coverage teams, to line up before taking the field.
“It’s essentially like a mat with the width of these hashes here and it has like 10 circles on it,” Houston said. “And then the 11th one’s the specialist. And so it’s a way for us to confirm who might be in the game, any adjustments that need to be made. It’s essentially a sideline huddle, if that makes sense.”
Another change that will help? An NCAA rule passed last month that will allow analysts to provide direct coaching instruction on the field during practices and game days. In the past, analysts were only allowed on the field to observe. That means both Houston and incumbent special teams analyst Chris Couch will be on the field coaching when fall camp starts on Wednesday.
“It changes the dynamic of in-game communication,” Houston said. “The direct line of communication is paramount. That’s the biggest rule change. Instead of coaching the coaches, now we get to coach the players directly. So that’ll be good for us in handling substitutions, calls. It’s just one less bridge of communication that happens during a game.”
Joe Houston bullish on Florida football special teams
Houston was hired away from the New England Patriots, for whom he worked as a special teams analyst under Bill Belichick last season. He also previously worked as a special teams coordinator and quality control assistant at Iowa State.
“Joe and I had a relationship from a while back,” Florida football coach Billy Napier said. “Obviously he was in a little bit of a unique spot with Coach Belichick’s situation. We were fortunate to hire Joe, and he’s done a great job …
“We’ve had organizational issues that obviously is well-documented. So we needed to get better in those areas, and I think Joe has provided a good sounding board. His working relationship with Coach Couch and now the fact that those guys, the gloves come off and they’re on the grass and can give instruction on the field I think is going to be a huge advantage for us.”
Florida returns three All-SEC specialists — punter Jeremy Crawshaw (48.9 avg), kicker Trey Smack (17-for-21 on field goal attempts) and long snapper Rocco Underwood. All were named All-SEC third team in various preseason publications and by the media.
“We’re going to build a lot of things that we did last year and implement some things, as well,,” said Houston, a former USC kicker. “We were fourth in the country in net punting. We were top six or seven in kickoff cover defense. There’s a lot of good things to build off of. We have elite specialists returning. Rocco Underwood, Trey Smack, Jeremy Crawshaw.”
Houston said a number of players will compete for punt and kick return duties this fall as well after Florida lost punt returner Ricky Pearsall to the NFL and kick returner Trevor Etienne to rival Georgia.
“Guys like Tre Wilson, Chim Dike, Montrell Johnson, Tank Hawkins, Jadan Baugh, Aaron Gates, Elijhah Badger, Aiden Mizell, Trey Webb and Ja’Kobi Jackson are all names that have been getting on the rotation this spring and we look forward to having a lot of effort,” Houston said. “It’s going to be competitive.”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football looking to clean up special teams in 2024
The Gainesville Sun
