Special Teams Sunday: How net punting fits into Texas' plan for improvement in the third phase

Last week during what’s likely to be his lone media availability of the regular season, Texas special teams coordinator Jeff Banks explained that the Longhorns highlighted three key areas needing major improvement in order to better a special teams unit that finished ranked No. 117 out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in SP+.

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• Net punting
• Field goal precentage
• Penalties

Today will feature a look at all three. First up is net punting.

Last year, Texas finished No. 111 in the nation and dead last in the Southeastern Conference in net punting. Texas, and mainly Michael Kern, logged 2097 punt yards and allowed 122 return yards on 51 punts. The Longhorns gave up 147 return yards, a decent number over 16 games.

The real reason for that No. 111 finish? The 36.43 net yards per punt.

To compare, Texas was No. 16 in net punting in 2023 at 41.76 thanks to Ryan Sanborn‘s efforts, and No. 58 in 2022 at 38.62 via Daniel Trejo‘s laudable efforts after transferring up from Texas Wesleyan.

Kern’s per punt average was just under 42 yards in 2023, not bad but not good. The main problem was that he lacked the capability to do anything other than just boot it. Directional punts and different styles of kick were out of the question. A mid-season injury that caused Ian Ratliff to briefly step in for Kern, and arguably outperform him, didn’t help matters. Kern has since transferred to Cal, and Ratliff has transferred to Marshall.

Enter Jack Bouwmeester. The Ray Guy Award watch list member joins the Longhorns after three stellar seasons at Utah. Bouwmeester was first-team All-Pac 12 in 2023 and second-team All-Big 12 in 2024. Last year, he had 60 punts and lead the Big 12 in the regular season with an average of 44.7 yards per punt.

Banks was confident he’ll be able to get plenty from Bouwmeester.

“It’s not necessarily talent or that Mike was injured,” Banks said. “It was that he was a freshman. No matter what position it is, you don’t want to put all this stuff on a freshman when we had a really good team around him. It was let him just do his job and everyone else can do theirs. With Jack, he’s mature. He’s played a lot of football. He started at Utah and was an all-conference player. Totally different dynamic.”

So what’s the expectation?

“We just need a guy who can punt far, high, and directionally sound, and we’ll be pretty good,” Banks said. “We’re pretty fast on the perimeter.”

Texas’ punting woes were not solely limited to net yardage, though that was the biggest black mark. The Longhorns were a decent No. 38 in punt return average at 10.53 yards per return. Meanwhile, the Longhorn punt coverage unit allowed just 7.18 yards per return. That figure checked in at No. 66.

Of course, Silas Bolden‘s punt return for a touchdown in the Peach Bowl proved to be a crucial score. But that went down as the Longhorns’ only special teams touchdown of the season. Also, that game was the home of the only other major positive special teams play, when Ethan Burke blocked a Sun Devil field goal.

The punt unit cost Texas plenty, as did other Longhorns special teams units. Between Georgia, Arizona State, and other games, mishaps in planning and other missed assignments gave opponents extra chances. That’s another section of special teams Banks surely wants to improve upon.

It may be tougher for opponents to grab those extra chances this year.

Banks said over the past few seasons with Bolden and Xavier Worthy, Texas was more return based than pressure based. A return to pressure focused punt block instead of return focused punt coverage may limit those extra chances for opponents and create more instant explosives as seen in recent years. Plus, if the ball does make it past Texas’ block efforts, there’s faith in one of DeAndre Moore, Ryan Niblett, and Tre Wisner, three guys Banks described as the candidates at the return positions. He also said each of those players had speeds in the 21.5-22 mph range.

There’s reason to believe Texas will have better punts, returns, and higher quality reps associated with the most common fourth down play. The senior in Bouwmeester, the experience in Moore, Niblett, and Wisner, and the ability to deploy members of Texas’ top recruiting classes on special teams have the unit primed to do better in 2025.

Plus, there’s no skipping special teams at Texas. Punt is part of the daily practice schedule, with nearly every player getting involved in the action.

Net punting improvement would go a long way toward making things better. That would force opposing offenses to have to travel further down the field to score against a Texas defense expected to be one of the best in the nation.

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But net punting is only the primary punt-related area that needs improvement as opposed to the singular one, at least in the minds of the Longhorns staff. Better quality of play on fourth down from Texas would do plenty to help a team already considered dangerous even more of a threat to win the national championship.