All Gators

An Ode to Florida's Special Teams Unit

One of the best, and most entertaining, in the business.

Ainslie Lee

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

They eat first during team meals. They have a nasty air guitar performance when “Won’t Back Down” blares through the speakers of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. They are the Florida Gators’ special teams unit. 

And they are very good. 

Reflecting back to Florida’s win over Missouri last weekend, it was hard not to recognize Florida’s kicking specialists. 

In a game where 11 of the Gators’ 23 points were scored off of field goals and a total of 10 punts were booted in the opening half of the game, that special teams unit had less time to practice their air-drum solo and more time to make a big impact on the football game. 

And in no way am I saying that Florida’s special teams unit doesn’t work hard – because they work tirelessly to perfect their craft. They just have lots of fun while doing it. And having so much fun is absolutely allowable considering they are as successful as they are. 

If you take a trip down memory lane to the 2015 football season, you’ll quickly want to snap back to reality. With Jim McElwain at the helm in his first season, it was clear special teams simply weren’t a priority. 

Though the legs of the Gators’ kicking specialists were burdened with injuries, the special teams performance that year was enough to give anyone nightmares. As one might recall, the kicking situation at Florida was so bad that the team held open tryouts for UF students in search of a kicker. 

While dental student, Neil MacInnes, eventually won the kicker search, things didn’t get much better. While MacInnes only kicked two PATs in his entire college career, his formerly injured incumbent, Austin Hardin didn’t do much better when he returned from injury. In 2015, Hardin split the uprights on just five of 14 field goal attempts. 

Now that we’ve relived that, it becomes painfully clear how important having a solid special teams unit is. And the unit Florida has now… it’s about as solid as they come.

On the kicking front, the young Evan McPherson has done his job as well as anyone would expect. As a freshman, McPherson went 17 for 19 on field goals, including a wonky call against Kentucky. The then-freshman also went 50-for-50 on PATs. McPherson led the Gators in scoring in 2018 with 101 points, all while netting a 64.1-yard kickoff average. 

So far in 2019, McPherson is continuing his consistent tenure in a Gator uniform. The sophomore is currently 12-for-14 on field goals with a long of 48-yards. As mentioned before, McPherson’s contributions in last week’s win in Columbia, Missouri were about as important as they come. 

I haven’t talked about the punting situation at Florida yet – and that’s because, unlike the kicking, Florida’s punters haven’t wavered too much in recent years. And that’s all thanks to one name: Townsend. 

From 2013-2017, Johnny Townsend was Florida’s go-to field flipper and became Florida’s all-time leading punter with 11,090 yards on 240 total punts. 

Enter Tommy Townsend. 

Prior to the 2016 season, Tommy decided he wanted to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and punt for the University of Florida. So he packed his things from his dorm in Knoxville, Tennessee and left the Volunteers in his rearview mirror as he headed south to Gainesville. 

After sitting the 2016 season out due to NCAA rules, Tommy wouldn’t see any action in 2017 as his older brother finished his punting duties. 

But bring on 2018 and Tommy would start right where Johnny left off. Averaging 45.4 yards per punt and a career-long 71-yarder against LSU, Tommy would quickly show that he wasn’t your average punter. 

Instead, he was a fiery guy who could be trusted to run full steam ahead on fake punts and really whatever else was asked of him. 

Take the fake punt against Vanderbilt in 2018, for example. Down 21-13 in the third quarter, Dan Mullen dialed up a fake punt that caught the Commodores by surprise. 

But Tommy Townsend didn’t just get to the line to gain and let up. Instead, he got the three necessary yards and 15 more on top of that -- all before getting a little scrappy: 

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In his second year at Florida, the redshirt senior has continued to be a fan-favorite for the Gators. 

Averaging 44.81 yards per punt, Tommy has pinned 20 punts inside the 20 yard line while booting 11 for 50+ yards – including a 71-yarder against Missouri last week to tie his personal best. 

With this performance, Tommy Townsend has nabbed his second consecutive bid as a finalist for the Ray Guy Award – which is given to college football’s best punter. The fan vote is still open:

But more than anything, fans dread the end of his eligibility. The other ongoing joke is that Johnny and Tommy’s parents don’t have any other sons to fill the punting void at Florida. 

While kickers and punters are the bulk of a special teams unit, the long-snappers, gunners on kickoffs and the defensive pressure when opponents punt all help make a special teams unit – well, special. 

I could be mistaken here, but I can’t recall seeing a Jacob Tilghman snap soaring over the head of Tommy Townsend. Likewise, I can’t think of the last time the Gators have given up a score on either a kickoff or punt. 

One of the reasons for this is putting some really quick guys in the gunner spots on both the kickoff teams and punt units. Guys like Dameon Pierce and Tyrie Cleveland have seen action when the Gators boot the ball away – and their speed has been very beneficial on punts and kickoffs. 

While Dan Mullen is known to be an offensive mastermind and quarterback whisperer, he’s also sure to be involved with one of the most underrated units on the field. With that being said, we tip our hats to the best air-band on any sideline across the country.

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Ainslie Lee
AINSLIE LEE

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