Good morning, everyone. We hope you slept well and are primed for a great day. And to get you started is some Morning Coffee:
Mike Priefer is a bit of an expert when it comes to special teams. UNC's coordinated in what some coaches refer to as the third phase of the game, Priefer has been a special teams coach in some capacity for nearly 30 years.
Following his time at the U.S. Naval Academy and mandated five years of service, Priefer coached eight seasons at four schools before joining the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002. He coached special teams at Youngstown State starting in 1997 then at VMI in 1999 and has stayed in that realm of the sport ever since.
Priefer spent 21 consecutive years in the NFL before pulling back two years ago. He's back in coaching and is tasked with upgrading UNC's special teams. We've documented that here at TarHeel247.
What we haven't hit on are Priefer's views about the new way the [NFL executes kickoffs](https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/rules-changes/dynamic-kickoff-rule-explainer/). So, would he like to see that applied to college?
"No, gosh no. Those are the worst rules," he said recently during a press conference inside the Kenan Football Center. "I understand player safety, and believe me, I coach kickoff and kickoff return, I have my whole career with player safety in mind. Remember, you had the old four-man wedge. When I broke into the NFL in 2002, there was that old four-man wedge and they're coaching it, 'Hey, just go blow up the wedge.' I'm like, 'No, you don't want to go blow up the wedge.'
"That's a 200 pounder against a 300 pounder. What I talked about was you take the 300 pounder and attack half a man. I used to say, what's 300 divided by 2? And then I never got an answer. So, I said 150. The other 200 pounder attacking the 300 pounder on half a man. We talk about that all the time, leading with your hands, not your head, making sure we're moving our feet and bending our knees and changing direction the right way. All our techniques and fundamentals that we coach are with player safety in mind. But those rules, I don't like them at all. Not at all."