Quote Originally Posted by Todd4State View Post
Also- we may have hit a home run with our ST coach. Last year South Alabama was second in special teams efficiency per ESPN:

http://www.espn.com/college-football...tab/efficiency

Jones is going to be a great tandem with Boniol recruiting and coaching the kickers while I assume Jones will coordinate the non-kickers on the ST units.
I saw this too, Todd. Good stuff. It also corresponds with how other advanced stats graded USA's special teams last year -- 16th nationally in the FEI special teams ranks, and 27th nationally in the S&P+ special teams ranks. Especially impressive given how little USA's offense was able to move the ball last year. (They were dead last in the Sun Belt in yards per play.)

The strange thing about it, though, is that special teams was mostly bad at USA in recent years under Jones. From 2012 to 2016, ESPN's special teams efficiency rankings put USA at 113th, 98th, 52nd, 122nd, and 102nd nationally. (And S&P and FEI had them similarly ranked.) I checked out USA's 2016 and 2017 coaching bios, but didn't see a ST coordinator listed. I'd be interested to know what, if anything, Jones changed about USA's special teams last season that caused them to improve so drastically from 2016 to 2017.

Regardless, aside from Jones' obvious upside as a great all-around coach and likely Alabama and coastal recruiting connections, it's great to see that his special teams kicked ass last year.