UPDATE ON UAB’S SPECIAL TEAMS OUTLOOK WITH NEW COACH JOHN JONES
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 14, 2024
John Jones is in his first season as the special teams coordinator for the UAB football team. Jones joined head coach Trent Dilfer’s staff last season as a defensive analyst working with the linebackers. He’s transitioned into coordinating the special teams while still working with the defense. On Tuesday, after the team’s practice in full pads, Jones sat down to talk about the Blazers’ special teams, including punter Patrick Foley and kicker Jonah Delange.
How different is the special teams coordinator role for you?
“Well, it's a lot different than what I was doing last year. You know, I came in as a defensive analyst and worked primarily with the linebackers and then kind of before the season got really involved with special teams, helping Coach (Kenneth) Gilstrap and everything. Then, this opportunity presented itself as Coach (Dilfer) kind of rearranged the staff and we got new hires and stuff. He approached me about it and I said, absolutely love to do it. And it kind of just took off from there I just spent all offseason and the summer, trying to get things in order, set the culture in the spring and get coaches all on the same page. It's been really good.”
What did you do in the early days of being the special teams coordinator?
“I try to tell people don't label me. I'm a football guy. You know, I'm not just a defensive guy or an offensive guy. Now my career has been defense, but somehow special teams have always found me. I've kind of gone into it, you know, I'm coaching defense and then next thing you know, I'm running some unit or something like that. Even in my high school days, I was a special teams coordinator at Thompson for four years with Coach (Mark) Freeman. Before that, before I came here as GA in 16, I was a special teams coordinator and defensive coordinator down at Greenville High School. So it's kind of always found me. I mean, when I came here as the analyst last year, that was never even brought up. It was just defense and I was totally fine with that and it kind of just found me. It's been kind of cool. With that being said, I've always tried to learn and pay attention and then, you know, as other people have been coordinators that I've been under, I've always helped, you know, coach or whatever. I've kind of absorbed a bunch of different things, been on the phone with a bunch of different people that have done this at a high level. They've really helped me out. So, it's been good.”
How many live special team coverage or return reps do you get during fall camp?
“Well, luckily, we've actually got a lot of good live work this camp. Now, we stay off our returners because we've got a stable of guys back there that also contribute offense and defense, so I'm going to keep them healthy. But in the scrimmage the other night, we were live in the stadium, all phases, which was really good. Got a lot of good work there. And then every day at practice, we try to simulate some type of (special) team, even if we start with drills. We went live with PAT/field goal today, at the end of practice. We had some live punts today. First day in pads, we went 10 rush every play for, we got 22 punts in 10 minutes, and it was just pure chaos out there. But we try to create that for the guys so that the game is so much more calm, because it's not going to be flying bullets like that every time.
I try to really make a really, really hard practice, especially on the specialists, so that they're never uncomfortable or feel nervous or like they're unprepared in a big time situation or anything like that. So thankfully, Coach Dilfer allows me to, we play a ton of guys on (special) teams. They’re the starters on offense, defense, the Beebes of the world, Isaiah Jacobs, (Colby) Dempsey, Amare Thomas, (Kam) Shanks, (Everett) Russaw, Michael Moore, all of them play special teams. Coach Dilfer made that a point early on, when we discussed this job and everything, and I was all about it. Everybody's incorporated. We roll four to five units, or depth charts per unit, so everybody's involved. That's really helped the culture of the buy in of everybody wanting to be good. That's really a revelation of our brotherhood, is how our special teams operate.”
What have been your impressions of the specialists during this camp?
“Starting with Patrick Foley, returning punter. We're blessed enough, he came in before I got here from Arkansas. Walked on and he was a 12 -game starter for us last year. He really took a leadership role this offseason. He really grew, really matured, really changed his approach. And he's just been phenomenal as a leader in that room, and also on the team. I mean, he's voted as one of the leaders, and he's done a phenomenal job of pushing those guys in that room to work hard, to compete, to recover, to do their daily checklists, to have all the things that we asked them to do. So it all starts with him in that room.
Jonah (Delange), our kickoff guy from last year. We got a little competition at that (kickoff) spot this year with Noah Grant, just joining us here for camp. (Grant has) done a phenomenal job coming in. He got here right at the start of camp, jumped right in, has done a really, really good job. He's got a really good leg, hits the ball really well. Him and Jonah are kind of battling out for that kickoff position. Wyatt Martin is a freshman that got here in the summer, and he is a guy that's a kicker only right now. We want to develop him into a punter down the line, but he's coming off an injury. So we're really focused on his health right now, getting healthy, getting comfortable, getting back to doing those things really well. But the good thing about Noah, he's a combo guy. So Noah, he punts, he kicks off, he kicks field goals, he's kind of a safety net in all those areas, and he's got a really, really good leg.
Caleb Moser is our returning long snapper. He started about half the games last year on punt, as well as field goals. He's got that spot right now. And then Evan Bishop just joined us right here at camp, or a couple weeks ago, and he's getting kind of up to speed on everything, how we do things. But he's done a really good job joining us. Having those two guys really allows us to practice and get a lot more stuff done. Because in the spring, we had three guys. It was Jonah, Pat, and Moser, and our group text was the Three Amigos, that's all we had. And so, had to be really smart, not killing them, but still getting all our work done with all the other guys and using Jugs machines, and make sure returners are getting balls. Having those other three guys join us has really helped, just from a practice standpoint, and then the competition part. Bringing Noah in has really helped Jonah, you know, push him (at field goal kicker). It's been really good to have those guys join us, and I'm really excited, I'm really proud of them.
I've been to a lot of places where the specialists are just the other guys on the team. But this team really embraces them. We were eating dinner last night, and tight ends come and sit at the table with us, and cut up with them, and they hang out with each other. They go eat dinners together with the quarterbacks, you know. They're not the other guys. They're part of the team, and the other guys really, I mean, the team loves them. And so, that's probably what makes me the happiest to see them, you know, totally involved in every aspect of the program.”
How important is it to have a kickoff specialist that can consistently put the ball in the end zone?
“That changes everything, you know. We had camps this summer, and we had a ton of guys come, and, you know, so many guys specialize, well, I'm just the punter, I'm just the kicker. The combo guys that can kickoff and punt have the most value, with the way the roster spots are in college football, and with the NIL and (scholarships) and all those things. I try to push those young guys, those high school kids on “Hey, make sure you can do both, don't just specialize.”
But for us, being able to kick off and put the ball in the end zone and make another team start on 25 every time is huge, especially field position games, the way offenses operate. That's a major emphasis for what we're doing. Last year, Jonah kind of handled all of those duties. He was a high schooler coming in, never really had the load of being a college kicker. And so by the end of the season, he's kind of operating on fumes and his leg's dead. It's a long season compared to a high school season and how much we work and all that stuff. He really learned this off season, what it takes to be a college kicker and all that stuff. And then having Noah being an older guy, he's got a really lively leg. The other night (in the scrimmage) every kickoff he had was a touchback. That was really good to see. I sleep a lot better when that happens. I would say, yeah, the value is in that and punting, even more than field goals now. Because everybody works by the book and analytics and people go for fourth downs more now than they ever have. So you get in that little zone they're going for it, we're not settling for field goals. You get a lot more kickoffs because you score a lot more points. If you can kick off and put it deep, you still got to kick chip shots and PATs, but the days of guys kicking 45 plus yards, consistently, kind of has gone away for a lot of the analytic guys. So the value we have here, can you punt, can you put it in the end zone. That's it's a big deal.”
Where would you say your return game is right now?
“I love it. I feel really good about those guys. They've worked really hard and we have a ton of different types of guys. I mean, we got big returners, we got short kind of scat back, we got speed returners. We got guys that cross train kickoff return/punt return The depth there probably makes me the most excited because I feel like I could try it five six guys back there at any time on punt return and I don't have to worry about them catching the ball. And then, kickoff return, it's a lot easier to catch but the guys with the vision to be able to see it. We have several guys that can get that done. That really excites me, because I think we got some weapons that can really affect the game and really help us win to put our offense in the best situation.”
If the season started tomorrow, would have a solid grasp on who would handle the returns?
“I've got a good idea. I mean, I'm not gonna take it to the bank. But I got a really good idea, if we were receiving right now the two guys I'd run out there on kickoff return and the punt return. But you know, we worked three guys the other night in the scrimmage. Every one of them caught the ball well. We worked multiple guys on kickoff return. I do have an idea, but I'll let the let the corner office put a stamp on it first.”
Do you like how your coverage units have performed thus far in camp?
“I think I really appreciate the position coaches have really emphasized and helped promote special teams in their rooms individually. And that's kind of been an emphasis, and that's kind of bled over to the players. Now, you're not looking around, and special teams is an off period. You know, it’s cocktail hour and this guy’s over here chopping it up with his helmet off. You know, everybody's working. We're all doing something and every coach is coaching. We've got multiple coaches on show teams, and it's just the energy, the excitement. I think anytime your better players play special teams, you feel better about it. You don't have to worry about this guy can go get it done. Because, obviously, we trust him to play offense or defense so you should be able to play special teams for us. Then we have several guys that that are walk-ons that have done a phenomenal job of making their way on to that depth chart. They might have started on the show team, came across and I'm figuring I got to get this guy reps, because this guy's gonna make the bus and help us on special teams. It's gonna be a tough conversation when we start having to trim this thing down and figure out who's going on the road with us and things like that. We've got so many good guys that can get it done, so I am very excited about it.”