NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Part of the newness of the 2021 Vanderbilt football season will be a different look on special teams.
Coordinator and assistant head coach Justin Lustig is in charge of helping the Commodores win the battles inside that oft-forgot tertiary part of the game.
“It falls hand-in-hand with the team culture of everything is important from how we block on field goal protection to what play we’re calling on 3rd-and-5 at the end of the game,” Lustig said. “That makes my job a lot easier when you are within a team culture that stresses the importance of everything from how we keep our lockers clean to how we greet people on the street.
“The guys are buying in and it’s important. No guy is too big to play on special teams and I’m excited to see those guys get after it on Saturday (against East Tennessee State).”
Lustig has settled on some key pieces to help make the special teams aspect of Vandy football run smoothly. One of those pieces includes new kicker Joseph Bulovas, a graduate transfer from Alabama.
Bulovas, originally from Louisiana, spent four seasons with the Crimson Tide and kicked in 26 games. He made 22 of his 29 field goal attempts and converted 134 extra points – 75 of those coming in 2018, a single-season Alabama record.
“The nice thing about evaluating (kickers) is it’s objective right? Tight ends or O-line, sometimes that’s a little bit harder. But we chart every kick so at the end of the day you look at the percentages of who’s making them and who’s missing them. He had the highest percentage,” Lustig said of Bulovas. “He had a good camp so we’re looking forward to seeing him compete on Saturday.”
While Bulovas is a newcomer in the starting lineup there are familiar names in important roles elsewhere. Senior Pierson Cooke will handle kickoff duties, senior Harrison Smith remains the starting punter and senior Cam Johnson has been tabbed to return both kickoffs and punts.
At long snapper, sophomore Wesley Schelling takes over for the departed Scott Meyer.
Lustig added that many of the Commodores in line to play this weekend on coverage and return teams are among the younger players on the roster. That means Saturday will be a first opportunity for them to prove their worth.
“One of the things when you’re evaluating guys on special teams is it’s hard to go live on kickoffs and kickoff returns because they’re so violent,” Lustig said. “So you’re really looking at the scrimmages and seeing maybe a young linebacker is not doing exactly what he’s supposed to do within the defensive system but he’s running around striking people and being physical well, that’s going to correlate to good special teams play.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
