The NCAA has paved the way for unlimited on the field coaches in 2024

Special teams have been one of Florida football’s biggest weaknesses the last two seasons. With some of the greatest kickers in the nation in Trey Smack and Jeremy Crawshaw, special teams have shown to be a strength, according to the overall stats. However, the Gators’ penchant for careless errors and costly penalties was a serious stain in 2023.

But starting now, a new rule will be implemented, meaning the Gators won’t be able to justify the same careless errors in 2024.

Florida Football: Not So Special

During his tenure with the Gators, Billy Napier has opted not to have a special teams coordinator among his ten on field assistant coaches. Instead that task has fallen to Chris Couch, an off the field analyst. This offseason Napier hired Joe Houston to help out with special teams but also as an off the field analyst.

While it is largely assumed that analyst all over the country help provide on field instruction, official NCAA rules have stated that only the head coach and the ten paid assistant coaches are allowed to provide instruction on the field.

The NCAA approved the provision of on-field coaching by analysts yesterday, thereby changing the rule and opening the door for an infinite number of assistant coaches.

With Houston and Couch, Florida can now have a dedicated on-field special teams coordinator, which is the largest advantage. With that, the Gators intend to address some of its structural shortcomings, which included Florida’s inability to consistently field 10 players, the presence of two players wearing the same number, and confusion about when to sprint onto the field to try to win the game versus Arkansas.

To be honest, other victories might just follow if Florida can improve their special teams performance.

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