University of North Carolina Athletics
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: Special Emphasis
August 13, 2003 | Football
Aug. 13, 2003
By Adam Lucas
When John Bunting took a day trip to the beach several days before the opening of training camp, he took along a little reading material.
While his wife, Dawn, drove, the third-year Carolina head coach looked over new special teams coordinator James Webster's special teams notebook. It's a sign of the emphasis he's placing on that phase of the game in 2003 that even on a quick vacation, he still devoted some time to special teams.
There are essentially five parts to the kicking game--punting/punt coverage, punt return/punt block, kickoff, kickoff return, and field goals. Last season, only one of those elements was above average, as Dan Orner's steady right leg made the field goal unit a reliable option.
Dependable long snapper Greg Warren also returns, but that's the extent of the similarities Bunting wants his 2003 special teams to have to last year's model, which ranked last in the ACC in punt returns and seventh in kickoff returns and net punting. Starting punter John Lafferty briefly lost his job in the Maryland game and is in competition with redshirt freshman David Wooldridge for the starting role in 2003.
"We had a great scheme last year but we didn't execute it," Bunting says. "We probably didn't have people who were drilled well enough to execute the scheme week in and week out. That's why I'm excited about some of these freshmen. I'm going to push and get some of them to play for us on special teams. Special teams probably weren't very important to them in high school, but they are very important here."
To highlight that importance, Bunting placed assistant head coach James Webster in the role of special teams coordinator. The Tar Heel staff also conducted a day-and-a-half study session with Detroit Lions special teams coach Chuck Priefer in Chapel Hill and took a trip to New Orleans to work with Saints special teams coach Al Everest.
Everest's Saints had three touchdown returns last season and blocked five punts. Michael Lewis and Fred McAfee both made the Pro Bowl as New Orleans special teams players.
That's the kind of production Bunting wants out of this year's Tar Heels. Despite a couple solid recruiting classes, the talent still isn't enough to overwhelm anyone on the Carolina schedule on offense or defense. Without that luxury, the Heels have to find a way to change field position and create momentum with special teams.
"It starts with the snapper, the kicker, the punter, and the holder," Bunting says. "But there are other guys who participate. When we played Florida State last year it showed where we are athletically in comparison to them. They ran right by our front line. But you know what, nobody else could block them either. We have more talent like that now, so we can cover kicks and cover punts better. That needs to be coached and drilled."
Webster started by simplifying Carolina's special teams approach.
"There's no more of all that crossing," says special teams performer Jarwarski Pollock, who is in a battle for the punt return job with Michael Waddell. "It's man on man, and whoever wins, wins."
Webster, an intense practice field presence whose withering glare can pierce even the heartiest senior, has also tried to make the Heels more aggressive. Bunting says that aspect of the formula is already working, and he singled out five extremely intense special teams video clips to show to the entire team at Sunday night's squad meeting.
"That is what I expect James Webster to bring to the table," Bunting says. "He was a very emotional player and is a very emotional coach. I have already seen a lot of what we got from Coach Priefer and Coach Everest, both in that special teams notebook and in the way we practice."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
