Tag: Joe Houston

Florida football offers scholarship to 2025 punter out of California

Florida’s specialist room is running a bit thin these days and this Golden State punter might be what the corps needs.

Following an official visit with the Florida football program this weekend, the Gators extended a scholarship offer to punter Alex Asparuhov — an unrated recruit in the 2025 cycle out of Fresno (California) San Joaquin Memorial.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 190-pound specialist’s main contacts were game-changer coordinator [autotag]Chris Couch[/autotag] and senior analyst [autotag]Joe Houston[/autotag] coming into last weekend. The news was announced on Saturday morning on Asparuhov’s personal Twitter account.

With current punter Jeremy Crawshaw’s eligibility ending following the 2024 campaign and just Jack Muse on the roster as a walk-on behind him, the Orange and Blue could certainly use a boost in the specialists room.

Asparuhov’s 247Sports scouting report

“Asparuhov might be the most fundamentally sound punter in the 2025 class. He scored well at the Underclassman Challenge by accumulating 109.71 points.

“When in rhythm his control and repeatability is special. He scored over 109 points on a cold 40-degree night in December of 2023. He made a big jump at the Western Showcase Camp earlier in the year. He graded out at the 5.0-star level as a punter and 4.5-star level as a kicker.

“Asparuhov scored 110.2 points in punting, 6 of 15 points on field goals, and 103.1 points on kick-offs. His punting is very impressive and he is already a college prospect in punting!

“He competed at his first Kohl’s ranking event during the 2022 Kohl’s California Winter Showcase Camp. He finished with a 39.5-yard average throughout the punt charting. He is way ahead of his age a punter! Asparuhov has the makings of a D1 punter and will be exciting to follow this spring and summer!”

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Florida football hires former NFL special teams coach

The Florida Gators football team hired a new special teams coach over the weekend

The Florida football program made the move to hire a new special teams coach ahead of spring practices.

Former New England assistant coach [autotag]Joe Houston[/autotag] was hired by Florida on Sunday afternoon to take over the special teams unit for the 2024 season. Dubbed as the “game-changers” by head coach Billy Napier, the unit didn’t quite meet expectations during the team’s 2023 campaign. Punts often went wayward and field goal attempts were often met with hopes and prayers from the UF fanbase.

The Gators are hoping that Houston’s professional experience and past success with the New England Patriots to translate into the team’s placekicker and punter.

Florida kickers Trey Smack and Alex Mihalek converted 18-of-24 (75%) field goal attempts in 2023, and in three years Houston coached Patriots placekickers to an 85% conversion rate.

Houston also worked four seasons as the special teams coach for the Iowa State Cyclones, when the team was No. 21 in punt defense, No. 27 in kickoff returns and No. 35 in the net punting category.

The Gators are rebuilding the coaching staff one member at a time, and Joe Houston is just a small piece of the puzzle that is the UF football program. The Florida faithful is just hoping the game-changers will change the game for the better.

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Patriots’ 2023 coaching staff with job titles

Here’s the Patriots’ 2023 coaching staff with job titles

New England Patriots training camp starts next week, and the organization revealed the roles for the coaches in the upcoming season.

There are several familiar faces back on the coaching staff, as well as new additions. Some of the more notable roles include Joe Judge as the assistant head coach and Evan Rothstein as the assistant quarterbacks coach.

The staff shakeup comes on the heels of a difficult 2022 season for New England, who missed the playoffs for the second time in three years. They’re hopeful the new-look staff can create the necessary changes to get the Patriots back into postseason contention.

Here’s the coaching staff expected to lead the way to change in 2023:

What to make of four Patriots coaches sent to NFL Scouting Combine

The Patriots sent four coaches to the NFL Scouting Combine this year.

The New England Patriots sent four members of their coaching staff to the NFL combine this week.

Wide receivers coach Troy Brown, corners coach Mike Pellegrino, special teams coordinator Cam Achord, and special teams assistant Joe Houston were all traveling down for the combine, per the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan.

This is a slight change from last year, as New England kept their offensive assistants in New England, and did not send them down. The organization has been busy with offseason work, as several members of the coaching staff worked the East-West Shrine Bowl. Bill Belichick headlined a group that included defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington.

This is certainly an interesting tidbit of news, given that these coaches will probably work closely with New England’s draft picks. It is worth noting that director of player personnel Matt Groh also made the trip. The latter has seen an increase in duties this off-season, including signing Matthew Slater’s contract.

It will be intriguing to see what tidbits come out from the Combine, as this coaching staff gets ready to prep for the draft. It appears as though they have several bases covered positionally, in what could be a crucial draft for a team looking to take the next step.

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Report: Patriots hire former Alabama staffer as special teams assistant

Former Alabama staffer Joe Houston will add some depth to New England’s special teams coaching staff.

The New England Patriots have brought on former Alabama staffer as their assistant special teams coordinator, according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.

He began his coaching career in 2012 as El Camino’s special teams and secondary coach for two years, moving up to the special teams quality control assistant for Toledo in 2015. Houston spent the next few seasons at Iowa State with a similar job title, before the Crimson Tide brought him in 2019 as a quality control staffer to assist with special teams.

The Patriots are without a special teams coach after the departure of Joe Judge, leaving current assistant Cam Achord as a candidate to take the role over. Achord spent time as the assistant since 2018 and could get promoted with Houston serving as the assistant.

Houston was USC’s starting kicker in 2010 has an expertise in helping kickers. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell had nothing but positive things to say about Houston.

“Joe is definitely one of the most dynamic, young special teams coaches in the country,” Campbell said, per the Des Moines Register. “He’s maybe the best kicking coach in the country.”

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