Tag: brian mason

Colts’ special teams unit ranked middle of the pack

Colts sit middle of the pack in Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings.

The Indianapolis Colts special teams unit underwent a slight makeover during the 2023 offseason following the departure of Bubba Ventrone and the arrival of new coordinator Brian Thomas.

As a whole, the unit had its ups and downs. There were bright moments like the two big plays on blocked punts against the Tennessee Titans. There were also some lapses. They allowed the ninth-most punt return yards (360) and the seventh-most yards per kick returns (26.1).

Rick Gosselin released his annual special teams rankings for the 2023 season, and the Colts found themselves right in the middle of the pack at No. 16 overall.

There is always an adjustment period when a new coordinator takes over, regardless of whether it comes on offense, defense or special teams. Losing Ventrone was going to make life a bit difficult on the unit, especially considering how well they ranked throughout his tenure with the Colts.

There were some injuries that played a factor as well. Losing Ashton Dulin, one of the best gunners in the NFL, due to a torn ACL was a huge blow. Then, the team lost cornerback and return man Dallis Flowers to a torn Achilles a year after he led the NFL in yards per return. Both players were regarded as two of the best special teamers on the entire roster.

Meanwhile, punter Rigoberto Sanchez was working his way back from a torn Achilles that claimed his entire 2022 season.

On punt returns, Isaiah McKenzie spent the majority of the season as the return man. He was pretty inefficient, though, averaging 8.9 yards per return on 23 returns. The team as a whole only return nine total kicks during the season thanks to the new kickoff rules.

Barring a surprising move, Mason will be back for his second season as the special teams coordinator in 2024, and it will be interesting to see if the return of both Dulin and Flowers can get this unit back to where it was before.

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Former Notre Dame assistant has massive day in Colts win

Update on an old friend: He’s at it again.

Brian Mason was only at Notre Dame for one season but his time won’t soon be forgotten.

Mason took a Notre Dame team that for the previous decade had been at best, very mediocre, on special teams, and made them rather special.

Mason oversaw a Notre Dame team that blocked seven punts last season.  It was two more than any other program nationally and after his incredible showing, the Indianapolis Colts offered him their special teams coaching job.

Mason took that and although he didn’t make the same splash in seemingly just seconds like he did at Notre Dame, he did have a massive showing this past Sunday.

The Colts were in Tennessee to take on the Titans and trailing late in the third quarter.  That’s when Mason’s punt block unit took care of business and turned the tide of the game as they blocked and returned two-straight Tennesssee punts for touchdowns.

Check out the highlights of them below:

And for good measure:

The Colts are now 7-5 and sit very much a part of the AFC playoff picture.  Sunday’s win certainly had to do with the guy who was calling special teams in South Bend just a year ago.

Notre Dame football: What to like about new special teams coach

What to like about Notre Dame’s likely new special teams coordinator.

Reports surfaced Sunday that Notre Dame is already keying in on a replacement for [autotag]Brian Mason[/autotag] as special teams coordinator. Mason is leaving the Irish for the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he’ll coach special teams. The search for Mason’s replacement reportedly will not be a very long one.

According to Matt Fortuna of The Athletic, Notre Dame is headed to the SEC to fill its special teams vacancy.  Below is what Fortuna tweeted on Sunday afternoon:

Source: Notre Dame is expected to hire Ole Miss special teams coordinator Marty Biagi to the same position. Biagi, who served as a special teams analyst with the Irish in 2016, replaces Brian Mason, who left for the Indianapolis Colts.
– Matt Fortuna on Twitter

A quick look at the biography of [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag] details his work, which suggests Notre Dame special teams should resemble more of what we saw in 2022 instead of what they were like for much of the 12 previous seasons.

Notre Dame football: 2023 coaching staff tracker

More movement on June 20…

Although it was anticipated to be a much slower off-season in terms of news for Notre Dame after Marcus Freeman’s first full year on the job, plenty of changes to the coaching staff have occurred.  It started with a famed graduate assistant returning to the Big Ten university he starred at as a player and quickly snowballed into a national search for a new offensive coordinator and much more.

As we count down the days until Notre Dame football officially gets going this fall, we look back at the departures and arrivals to Notre Dame’s coaching staff.

 

Massachusetts 2023 athlete had a great official visit with Notre Dame

The Irish hosted an East coast underrated star over the weekend

We are into the summer recruiting session and the Irish continue to push an envelope that has not been seen often. [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] has completely changed the recruiting philosophy, going after players that former Notre Dame coaches never even thought would be options.

On Tuesday evening, Massachusetts 2023 athlete [autotag]Ronan Hanafin[/autotag] tweeted out a few pictures of his official visit along with tagging Freeman, offensive coordinator [autotag]Tommy Rees[/autotag], wide receiver coach [autotag]Chansi Stuckey[/autotag], tight end coach [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag], special teams coordinator [autotag]Brian Mason[/autotag], on-campus recruiting coordinator [autotag]Mackenzie Zanow[/autotag], and graduate assistant [autotag]Johnny Aylward[/autotag]. The six-foot-three-inch and 206-pound player is most likely being recruited on the offensive side of the ball after seeing who he tagged in his post.

The Irish going after Hanafin is a very positive development due to his current offer list which includes Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan and others. Although he is ranked by some outlets as a three-star prospect, that offer list shows that Hanafin might be underrated at the moment.

Hanafin has yet to schedule a date for a verbal commitment, but it might be soon as he has two more official visits to Alabama and Nebraska.

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Watch: Notre Dame’s new special teams coach Marty Biagi mic’d up

More Irish mic’d up fun

When [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] lost special teams coach [autotag]Brian Mason[/autotag] to the Indianapolis Colts, it left a huge hole for head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] to fill.

The Irish special teams last year was elite, arguably the best group in the country last year. Freeman tabbed former Notre Dame special teams analyst [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag], who rose the ranks since leaving South Bend, working with Purdue’s and Ole Miss’ special team.

It was viewed as a very good hire, even if the shoes Biagi had to fill were fairly large.

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It seems like it’s been a right of passage for coaches this spring to get mic’d up and it was Biagi’s turn. Watch below the new, err, returning Notre Dame special teams coach interacting during practice.

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6 things to know about Colts’ new special teams coordinator Brian Mason

Here are six things to know about Colts new special teams coordinator Brian Mason.

Shane Steichen’s staff is nearing completion, and a critical role, special teams coordinator, has been filled. The Indianapolis Colts have selected Brian Mason from the University of Notre Dame to succeed Bubba Ventrone.

Mason was Notre Dame’s special teams coordinator last season and brought a wealth of knowledge. He is the sixth hire for Steichen and comes on the heels of several pivotal decisions for the Colts as the team evaluates the franchise’s future.

Let’s take a look at six things to know about Brian Mason:

Notre Dame football: star assistant appears headed to NFL

Punt teams in the AFC are already on alert.

Add another opening to the seemingly never ending Notre Dame assistant coaching carousel this off-season. Star special teams coordinator Chris Mason is reportedly set to leave Notre Dame for the NFL.

But he’s not going very far as he’s set to take the same role with the Indianapolis Colts. There he’ll be part of new head coach Shane Steichen’s staff.

Mason’s impact was undeniable in his one season at Notre Dame. Known jokingly as “Fair Catch U” for years before his arrival because of floundering special teams play, Mason sparked an instant turnaround in 2022. Notre Dame’s seven blocked punts were the most by any team nationally.

A huge congrats to Mason on getting an NFL job. There are only 32 of them and suddenly the Colts special teams units just became very intriguing.

For Notre Dame it’s the latest in an off-season that has now seen the offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and a handful of other analysts and assistants also leave for promotions elsewhere.

It will certainly be a challenge to find the next Mason for Marcus Freeman, but other successful programs and NFL teams wanting Notre Dame assistants speaks to the Irish having a strong foundation in place.

And the way things are going, chances are pretty good we’ll still see another departure or two.

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Colts to hire Brian Mason as special teams coordinator

The Colts reportedly have their special teams coordinator in Brian Mason.

The Indianapolis Colts are expected to hire Notre Dame’s Brian Mason as the special teams coordinator under new head coach Shane Steichen.

With Gus Bradley returning as the defensive coordinator and Jim Bob Cooter taking over as the offensive coordinator, the Colts have now filled all three coordinator positions.

The news was first reported by Tom Loy of 247 Sports’ Irish Illustrated.

 

In recent seasons, Mason was the director of recruiting for Cincinnati (2017) and then their special teams coach (2018-2021) before joining the Fighting Irish in 2022.

Mason had a successful first season with Notre Dame’s special teams unit. Here’s what Loy said about Mason’s short tenure with the Fighting Irish:

In one year, Mason transformed the special teams unit and made Notre Dame one of the strongest position groups in all of college football. An argument could be made that Mason should have actually won the Broyles Award, which is given annually to the top coordinator in all of college football. That’s how terrific his group was in South Bend. Mason revamped the group, they became extremely aggressive, became a punt block machine and were polished each and every week.

Mason will be replacing Bubba Ventrone, who took a promotion with the Cleveland Browns in February.

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Former Notre Dame assistant moved away from on-field role at LSU

LSU just got better by default.

Notre Dame fans that have an appreciation for good special teams play may enjoy hearing this.  The other day I woke up a bit early and on my YouTube recommended videos was the 2018 Notre Dame-Michigan game.  So of course, I hit play and watched parts of it as it was mostly a tremendous way to start the eventual 12-1 season for the Irish.

Just minutes before halftime, Notre Dame took a 21-3 lead on what was [autotag]Jafar Armstrong[/autotag]’s second rushing score of the first half.  It felt like game over.  It seemed like the rout was on as Michigan had virtually done nothing up to that point.

But just moments later, Notre Dame’s brutal special teams play showed its ugly head.  Ambry Thomas returned the following kickoff 99-yards for a touchdown and that was it for the blowout, instead the Wolverines had new life and the Irish spent the second half hanging on to win 24-17.

That was one of countless special teams miscues for Notre Dame from 2010-2021.  Jokingly called “Fair Catch U” for the better part of the last two decades, [autotag]Brian Polian[/autotag] headed the Fighting Irish special teams from 2005-2009 and again from 2017-2021.

Polian left with [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] to LSU following the 2021 regular season and it’s hardly a surprise that it didn’t take even a year for Notre Dame to go from “Fair Catch U” to “Punt Block U” under Brian Mason.  Polian and LSU suffered their very unsurprising pile of special teams miscues this year that cost them severely in a few of their biggest games.

Tuesday saw Brian Polian in the news and in this longtime college football observer’s eyes, LSU got better as a result.  Polian will no longer serve as special teams coordinator for the Tigers, instead being moved to an off-field role that will help in roster management and not for running special teams.

If you’re a Notre Dame fan you’re probably thinking “Wow, what took Brian Kelly so long to do this?”

And if you’re an LSU fan, you can take it from me that you should be thrilled because the unit that was a liability on the SEC West champions a year ago just got markedly better by this move.

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