While the offense and defense certainly deserved plenty of criticism for the year UMass had in 2025, special teams is of course part of that too.
Special teams often flies under the radar during seasons like that because there are so many other problems much bigger than the execution of the kick off, punt and field goal units. But, the lack of a return and coverage game, along with just the overall absence of a legitimate presence in the third phase of the game is something the Minutemen are addressing this spring.
On Tuesday following the 10th of 15 spring practices for UMass, special teams coordinator Joe Castellitto met with the media for about 10 minutes.
Here’s what stood out:
On how spring has gone so far
“It’s been great. The guys are flying around. There’s a big sense of urgency at practice and honestly, we’re just trying to get the guys to play hard. I think that’s the biggest thing and connecting the team. So, practice has been going pretty smooth.”
On kickers, punters and long snappers
“So, Derek Morris we obviously have returning. Feel great about Derek if I’m being transparent. I think he’s probably one of the best kickers in the country. So, I think he’s got an absolute cannon of a leg. I think what separates him from most people is his mentality. If there’s a ball that’s going to get snapped, he feels like he’s going to put it through the uprights. So, feel great about Derek’s mentality and ability out on the field.
“Snapper, we just took a new one. Grant Mills, we call him G-Milly. He came from Ohio State, he was at North Carolina before. He’s one of the most talented guys I’ve probably been around snapping the ball wise. Elite velocity. Great feet. He’s a yes sir, no sir kind of guy. He does all the right things. You coach him to do something, he does it the next rep.
“And then Ed. We’ve got Ed (Phillipson). Ed was kind of lurking in the shadows behind Keegan last year, which is great for his development. But, he’s had a great spring so far, he continues to get better every single day. So, we feel great about that.”
On simulating game pressure for big moments
“No doubt. There’s various ways you can do it. You can get the team in, get them rowdy and whatnot. We do some things in the offseason where we put some pressure on the kickers and the punters. We’ll squirt water on them. We’ll make it very loud. We’ll bring some other people. We’ll have a horn out there for them. But, I think any kick is just another kick for those guys. Mentality wise for them it’s ‘hey, I’m just going out there, I’m doing my job and that’s pretty much it.”
On the importance of having better players on the team want to play special teams
“I mean, we sell that to our guys all the time. I put up graphics in my meetings about how much guys make, how long they’ve been in the league, how many offensive or defensive snaps they had compared to special teams. You’re either found or made on special teams. There’s a lot of guys out there…you look at the longevity of them being in the NFL, it’s because they play high-quality special teams reps.
“Now, obviously in the MAC, I don’t know how many guys get drafted from the MAC each year, but if you put on great special teams reps, scouts come in all the time and ask me all the time, ‘hey how’s this guy for you on special teams?’ Or, they ask our GM ‘what does he do on special teams?’ I think it’s extremely important.”
On his assessment of last year’s punt and kick off coverage
“Yeah, I mean listen, there was a lot of firsts for me last year. Last year is last year for us. We obviously had a very good punter. We probably out-punted our coverage a couple times and didn’t kick as many touchbacks as we’d like. But, it was Rolodex’d. We had to play a bunch of guys at different positions. You obviously play a top team like Iowa in the country…it puts a lot of stress on you. But, we finished first in the MAC in net-punt, so, against MAC opponents we were first.
“So, if you’re thinking like-minded in-conference, we’re up there with the best. I feel good about it.”