Everything Tennessee special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler said

Tennessee’s kicking game over the last three years has been one of the best units in college football. Special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler is having to replace his placekicker and punt return specialist. Thursday, Ekeler met with the media to update Tennessee’s kicking game heading out of spring. 

Where do you think you are in, in the return game coming outta spring? What, what do you like that you got? What’s that competition look like there? 

Start with punt returns, you got Squirrel (White). He’s done it in games around here and been really electric and we’ve probably got about five other guys that are truly legit. So that competition is really ongoing and will go through the summer and in the fall camp. But I’ll tell you what, whoever is back there is gonna be absolutely dynamite. We’re going to continue on the trajectory we’ve started for three years here and this will be our best year guaranteed. 

Where do you think you are at in the kickoff return game? 

Same thing. We’ve got a lot of new guys, a lot of guys with different skill sets, which we’ve evaluated in the spring. We feel really good about where we’re headed in the kickoff return unit. And again, it should be our best year yet. And not even close. 

I would assume Boo Carter is one of the guys who’re looking as a returner, as a freshman, obviously hasn’t played squirrel’s, played a lot. How do you like determine a trust factor when a guy hasn’t played at that position? 

I’ve been other places and in this conference too, where we had a true freshman back there and he was an All American. So I don’t bat an eye and if they’re ready, they’re ready. And Boo Carter, I’m not saying he’s the guy, but he’s in that competition and Boo Carter, he don’t care if he’s in front of 102,000, he don’t care if he’s in front of five people. He’s Boo and he’s so locked in and focused on what he does. He’s just a great football player, regardless if he’s our returner this year, he can play a ton of ball around here. Absolutely love that guy. He’s just a great football player. 

What have you seen in terms of progression from Jackson Ross compared to last season going into his sophomore year? 

You look at it and it was his first year of football. He’s never played other than Australian rules football. So Jackson, we’ve developed a system around his skillset. He’s probably the only guy in the country who can kick it equally well with his right and left foot. And he’s got some other skill sets we haven’t shown yet, so we’re really excited about. Just last week he came up and he’s like, ‘Hey, I, I like this kick and I like this’. And so we build protections, build our scheme around his skillset. 

He’s got a unique skill set and he’s an awesome guy, great to work with. And so you should see him take his game to a whole other level. And you look at it, last year 17 of his 55 punts he killed inside the ten. And I said it after the first game, I screwed that up and I told you guys he was gonna be a damn weapon. That’s what he is. 

Just how beneficial is it for some of the young guys if linebackers defensive backs to get reps on special teams?

You go into our special teams meetings, Heup (Josh Heupel) is in the front row and he’ll jump in and talk all about the technique. He’ll coach it. So you’ve got a head ball coach who every single day after practice, he comes in my office and we sit down and we’ve worked tirelessly to develop a system that starts with stance and logical teaching progression that makes sense to our guys and our verbiage on offense and defense. 

We speak the same language as a football team. So everybody the verbiage we use, it goes over and we talk all about all the time about transferrable skills and everything we do on special teams is making you a better football player. 

There’s no if, ands or buts about it. And our guys understand that. So that’s where you get the buy-in and, and guys, I mean shoot, if you want to play in the league, I mean you better be on teams man. You got a 53 man roster and, and 48 suit up on game day. You better have a good skill set.

Kind of on that note, is there a specific type player characteristic and tangibles that you look for in the, the coverage units, the kickoff months? 

Yeah, you’re looking for guys who really have great field alert, who guys who are fluid, who can run and strike. Again, they understand they’ve got a really good understanding of time and space and ball-man relationships. But all of our guys in this team, the way we’ve taught it, I mean they all get it. 

We have a whole matrix that we sit down, every single player’s got six columns by their name in the six special teams unit and then we rank them on the team. So spring ball’s about identifying every single one of our players skillset, what they can do, where we can plug ’em in. And then it goes into how much they’re playing on offense, how much they’re playing on defense. Just what you said about getting those young guys, getting those young guys game reps, getting them a part of it. So when they’re out there on offense and defense, they don’t bat an eye. Been there, done that and that’s what’s fun about how we’ve developed this and where we’re continuing to develop. 

I know you didn’t coach him, but Jalen Reeves-Maybin has obviously made a name for himself on special teams in the NFL. Do you, do you discuss with the guys this is a guy who played here, you know, is a pro bowler as a special teamer?

It is a great question. Just yesterday, we did that exactly what you’re talking about. We had Theo Jackson blocking a kick. We had Alontae Taylor going down covering punts and on punt return. And then, oh by the way, guys here he was at Tennessee doing the same thing. And so a hundred percent what you said, I mean that’s, we want those guys to see guys that sat in those seats and that are now doing it at the highest level and, and getting paid to do it. 

Having Squirrel White back for returns. What kind of excites you most about having him there?

Squirrel is fearless and he’s one of the toughest players on this team. Everything we do, we talk about putting their face on people and being physical. Squirrel’s not gonna back down from anybody. I mean, it don’t matter who it is. So you got a guy back there, Squirrel don’t tell him, but I think he thinks he’s like 6-8, 310. I mean he thinks he’s like all jacked up, but that guy, he got it. He’s electric. He can make you miss in a phone booth. And he’s tough. He’s got unbelievable ball skills. He’s what you want in a football player.