Special teams depth

When Butch Jones was asked about the Tulsa Golden Hurricane during Monday’s Sun Belt teleconference, one of the first things he pointed to was their special teams. He then emphasized that unit again Tuesday.

“Usually, championship teams have the best bottom third of their roster,” Jones said. “Tulsa only has three starters that start on special teams… so that shows me they’ve built their program, they have competitive depth across the board and they play high-level special teams.”

The last part may not be entirely true — Pro Football Focus has the Golden Hurricane graded as the third-worst special teams unit in the nation this season compared to ASU, which enters the week tied for 48th.

Although the Red Wolves had a rare missed field goal from Blake Grupe at Washington, Jones was relatively pleased with his team’s coverage units — ASU has only allowed 14 yards on eight punt returns, best among Sun Belt teams with at least one opponent punt return.

The issue is who’s on the field. Of the 22 special teams snaps against the Huskies, T.W. Ayers, a rotational defensive lineman, played all of them. Starting tight end Reed Tyler played 21 of 22 and safety Taylon Doss covered 9 of the 12 total punts and kicks.

Jones wants to put his best players out there — it’s why he uses running back Lincoln Pare as one of his two regular kick returners along with one of Pare’s backfield mates in Johnnie Lang Jr. and Alan Lamar.

But as he’s able to recruit more guys he trusts, Jones hopes he doesn’t have to ask his top options on either side of the ball to pull double duty.

That doesn’t mean guys like Pare don’t want to do the job.

“I think it’s a great way to start the game,” Pare said of returning kicks. “Special teams are the most important part of the game and it comes down to it in a lot of games, so to be on any of the units is a pleasure.”