Georgia Tech is the eighth career stop for special-teams coach Ricky Brumfield, and he has coached special teams at all eight. Coach Brent Key, who hired Brumfield from Florida International, distinguishes himself from Brumfield’s many previous bosses in a way that bodes well for the Tech kicking game.
“He’s given me time to help us be successful on special teams, whether it’s meetings, walk-throughs, individual periods in practice, special-teams teach period,” Brumfield said Monday. “I’m given the time to teach those guys and the autonomy to do it the way I would like to do it under the structure that he gives us.”
It spoke to Brumfield as confirmation of the importance that Key has placed on special teams. Last season, Key helped solve two flaws in Tech’s special-teams play that led to the dismissal of former coach Geoff Collins – getting punts blocked and field-goal kicking – by putting former linebackers coach Jason Semore in charge of special teams and promoting kicker Gavin Stewart to the place-kicking job.
Brumfield takes over the special-teams job from Semore, who left Tech to become defensive coordinator at Marshall. Key made clear his prioritization of special teams two weeks ago when it was suggested to him at a news conference that there wasn’t a “hyperfocus” this spring on that element of the game.
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Yes, it is. Ooh, you’re wrong on that one.”
He went on to say that the first period of practice is a special-teams walk-through and that the first meeting of the day is for special teams.
“Every single day,” he said.
Further, Key devotes additional periods for working on special-teams skills individually and as a unit.
“It’s dadgum important,” he said.
Key said that, outside of the starting quarterback, he’ll give Brumfield the freedom to use whomever he wants to play on special teams.
“The best 11 guys that can be out there,” he said. “Guys, special teams is not a down-off. It is not to put your backups in.”
Credit: Ken Sugiura/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ken Sugiura/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Brumfield is appreciative of the offer, but mindful not to abuse it.
“We can’t use the players that get the most touches on the field on punt kickoff and kickoff return,” he said. “We kind of have to take care of those bodies.”
Stewart returns to kick for the Jackets after making 12 of 13 field-goal tries, 13 of 14 point-after attempts and recording touchbacks on 22 of 40 kickoffs. Brumfield is open to splitting the job among two or three players to ease the wear. Kicker Aidan Birr, a 2022 signee who tore his ACL a year ago while still in high school, has been rotating with Stewart on field goals, but has not advanced to kickoffs.
“Obviously, he has to finish getting completely healthy, but once that happens, he’ll be a great asset for us,” Brumfield said.
Tech will need to find new returners for kickoffs and punts, jobs that were held by Hassan Hall (finished eligibility) and Nate McCollum (transferred to North Carolina), respectively. Brumfield said that Malik Rutherford, Christian Leary, Rodney Shelley and D.J. Moore have been taking turns at punt returner. The kick returner could come from the same pool.
When Brumfield coached at Virginia (2018-21), perhaps the special-teams highlight was kickoff returner Joe Reed being named the nation’s top return specialist.
“I always talk to them about it’s one play for a large chunk of land, so who can help us get the biggest part of the field for us, change the field position,” Brumfield said.
Maybe Brumfield’s biggest challenge will be improving the punt team. While the Jackets didn’t have a punt blocked after Key’s installation as interim, Tech also finished last in FBS in net punting.
That included giving up 188 punt-return yards on seven punts to Virginia Tech’s Tucker Holloway (including a 90-yard return for a score that set a record for a Georgia Tech opponent). Loose coverage also was damaging in the win over Duke.
Brumfield said that he wants punter David Shanahan to improve the height on his punts to give punt-team members more time to get down the field.
Asked about a possible scheme, Brumfield said he didn’t know and gave a wink.
“What I did this spring is try to find the guys that can run down the field and cover, to be honest with you,” Brumfield said. “Who can run down the field, who can cover, who can make open-field tackles.”
In his past five seasons – four at Virginia and last season at Florida International, his teams ranked 57th, 74th, 80th, 72nd and 52nd in FBS in net punting. No small part of the equation is having a superior punter who can kick for distance, hang time and directional accuracy.
“I think he does have a good leg,” Brumfield said of Shanahan. “He’s an athlete, he does a good job of getting back there, he’s willing to learn.”
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