October 9, 2025 • 10 mins
Tracy Smith speaks with the media before Thursday's practice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
For the review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hey, Tracy, Ryan obviously had a pretty you know, the
tough experience in New England, but he was able to
bounce back this past week. How important is it as
the special teams coordinated that you kind of monitor the
specialists when they when they have heightened mistakes and maybe
(00:28):
can carry that on for a long time.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
That's kind of part of everybody's experience. You have a
good day, a bad day, and you have to keep going.
So not just the specialist, but I kind of want
to check in with everybody because they all whether you
won by one hundred or lost by one hundred, they
all walk out of those games with their own individual
experience of how they did. So even on a crushing
team victory, you're kind of like, hey, how'd you do?
(00:53):
Are we okay? What can we do? Kind of thing,
because I'm just dealing with all of them at the
same time. Ryan did a nice job of getting back
to work, and he's done this same thing on his
best games and the other ones, so I just kind
of look forward to him staying that way. But we
have a lot of guys that are like that, and
one game doesn't necessarily lead directly to the next. One.
It's a whole new set of circumstances. Thank you, of course.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Hey, Tracy, so you just looking at punt returner. You guys
have cycled through about four or five guys so far
this season. I'm sure David Moore's injury is obviously a
factor in that. Is curious where you guys are at
as far as trying to find maybe it's one regular
returner at this point in time, We're.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Trying to use the guy's week to week on who
we think can be successful against that particular team and
also what their other skill sets are. Both Trevor and
DJ Dallas have played other positions on punt return so
far for us before, So how to use one guy
and how does it affect the other ten kind of thing.
So it's kind of been a weekly decision until somebody
(01:51):
really kind of grabs the title belt for a while.
You know, you kind of keep moving and give everybody
a chance to do whatever they can do best. Yeah, thanks,
I'll go with Darren Gant, followed by Cass.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I was actually also going to ask about punt returns Tracy.
Is there is there almost an element like a baseball
bullpen where you've got different guys for different returns or
you know, in this situation, I like Hunter, in this situation,
I like somebody else.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Uh. This has been the team I've been on the
head the most guys who could catch an NFL punt,
for sure, So there's been more optionality in that way
throughout a game. You've seen us use multiple guys within
a game, and that's sometimes that there's a short field
catcher and a long field catcher. So that's a way
to get more people involved within a particular game strictly
(02:42):
punt to punt or scheme to scheme, not as much,
but but that's the same sort of thing. We got
a long reliever and a short reliever. If we have
to do a baseball thing. What's the favorite baseball team
of the Charlotte Peoples the Knights.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
And that's a contentious subject.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Okay, sorry, I want to get into that. Bruce told
me nothing controversial. Don't ask Mike or Joe about that
at all. Please don't. Oh, Mike showing his phillies.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
This is Brave's country, Tracy.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Oh, okay, good to know I grew up a New
Orleans Zephyr fan. Cool.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Okay, I'm gonna go back to football real quick. Turpin
is I think like second in the NFL and returns.
What is it that just kind of makes him so special?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
A fantastic talent has been that way his whole life
was like that in college, just has a kN act
for it. Incredibly fast, exceptional change of direction, and then
tough can run through a tackle kind of And then
actually a fantastic tracker of punts and kickoffs, does a
nice job getting to the catch point and can make
a play. He's out there to make something happen. Really
(03:50):
dangerous returner that we have to deal with in both
coverage phases, kickoff and punt.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
When you have a returner like that who can do
so many things, how do you prepare Like is it
mostly film study or is it practice reps? Like what's
the best way to prepare for somebody like him? Or
or is it kind of like you just got to
get to a game and some of these guys have
to fill his speed on at least the first return.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You'd hope that it doesn't take a whole return to
figure that out. So we post to warning signs all
over the walls kind of thing. Danger danger, danger returner
kind of deal. He can do everything, So we got
to show his history, show what he's best at and
how we can deal with it and do our best
to play within our techniques to go get the punk
(04:36):
covered no matter who's back there.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I'm going to assume that was a joke, but just
to be a journalist in check, are there really signs
all over the wall?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
There's no way for anyone outside of the building to know,
but smart invisible mental signs. I like it.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Thanks, Tracy Joe Parrison.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
If you show up next Thursday with the New Orleans
Zephyr at David Newton will buy your lunch. Just just
let me just start with that. Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Your dirty kickoffs have it looked as dirty lately? Is
(05:16):
that because teams have done a nice job countering them
or you having you having fits change them up a lot?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Since that Atlanta game costs so much habit, there's different
strategies a return team can use. The closer they are
to the front of the landing zone, the harder it
is to get a ball at their feet, you know.
So there's that that opens up other possibilities of different
kicks that we've been able to use with teams have
challenge that we've gone through the same process with our
(05:48):
return team. Do you take away a short kick? Is
that more dangerous? Do you take away the deep kick?
Which ones? You know, like risk reward on both of
those things. Those two guys have to over a box
that's twenty yards deep and fifty three yards wide and
you only have two people to do it. So we're
reacting to that as a kicking team. They're reacting to
(06:09):
as a returning team, and then the other way. So
it's kind of a puzzle that all of us are
putting together based on the game conditions as well the
weather that day, all those things. So if you're presented
with an opportunity to get the ball on the ground,
you'd like to The teams that are really succeeding are
making the ones that the returners do catch also challenging.
So we're just kind of like looking for an edge
(06:29):
on all of them. It doesn't always look the same
teams are doing a nice job of eliminating the ball
that bounces three times, because that's the true problem. Thanks sure, thank.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You, Hey, Tracy. I know you guys bring up being
developmentally minded, but that also kind of serves as how
you're mentoring probably the other coaches within the staff. I
know I asked you about Darren last year, But what's
been the growth from year one to yer two for him?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Same for all of us, same for anybody in their job.
Once you get the basics covered and you can do
those and you can start expanding where you go where
you can go with your job. So year two, his
reach on the team has outreached the number of guys
that he can connect to because of his expertise, growing
is so much stronger. He can work with a guy
impump protection and a gunner in coverage or someone on
(07:24):
their blocks. The more things that you are comfortable managing
material wise, the more people that you can help. He's
kind of learned that, learned how to relate to more
different types of guys kind of thing. He had an
advantage because he played for nine years, so he'd always
been a mentor on the teams that he was on
already for the linebackers or the specialists or whoever's in
(07:44):
his room. But last year was his first time ever
talking to a punter about punting for sure, or snappers
or kickers or all that stuff. So he's a he's
a real worker, and he's always expanding his knowledge base
and has been a real asset to us improving as
quick as you can.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
When you have a guy kind of like BERKOVICI who's younger,
who can be involved in raps and kind of show
the physical elements of it, how much is how much
does that help the teaching process.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
It's great to have a young coach who can participate
with the guys for special teams. If you're involved with
the offensive line, the defensive line, and the quarterbacks, just
schedule wise, you can't really help with special teams. So
I don't connect with Mike as much because he's always
dealing with the quarterbacks. But the other guys, the guys
that are working with the defensive backs, the wide receivers,
the tight ends, the ones that are available during special teams,
we try to get as much of usefulness as we can,
(08:35):
try to help them develop as a coach, and that
also help us because we just talked about it. It's
a big field. There's eleven guys on special teams that
are spread out coast to coast, So as many guys
as we can get to help, I will use anybody.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Sure see are there other guys on this roster who
could catch a punt and what makes a good punt catcher.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, you see him sometimes after practice. The guys all
that are prospective punk catchers. Several guys on the practice
squad stay after for their catches. Also Jann Koker, who
just got activated a couple days ago, he's always back
there with the punk catchers. There are some qualities of it.
A lot of it is just tracking the ball. The
guys who know where it's gonna land have a huge
(09:18):
advantage because they're not moving when it gets there. What
truly creates a challenging punk catch's if you are moving
when the ball lands. So if the uh oh, we'll
just go right down your alley that you started earlier.
The center fielders, if you can get to where the
ball is going to land and know right there, then
it makes everything so much, so much easier to deal with.
So it's the same as like a deep ball catch.
(09:39):
The guys that truly can track a ball and understand
the physics of it, whether they do it explicitly or not,
have a big advantage because those things come down really
fast and the spirals tighter than a normal spin because
of how hard it is spinning the revolutions of it.
So as long as you're perfect with your feet, it's
much easier with your hands. And some guys are natural catchers.
(10:01):
They can kind of make it up. Rod Woods and
used to catch the ball over his head because he
was such a good catcher with his hands, you know
that kind of thing. There's some exceptional guys like that.
David Moore is like that. If you tell him to
catch the ball above his head or below his knees,
he can do both in the same day kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Does a baseball player make a better returner?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Then there's a guy, one of Claire's friends at the
combine that always ask the guys about their baseball history.
He's always looking for outfielders to cat to catch punts.
So there's something about tracking a ball, a struck ball,
or a punted ball in the air that matches with
those two skills. Certainly not a prerequisite, but there's something
(10:38):
about being far away from where it started and being
able to get your body there. There's an imagination level
For the review.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hey, Tracy, Ryan obviously had a pretty you know, the
tough experience in New England, but he was able to
bounce back this past week. How important is it as
the special teams coordinated that you kind of monitor the
specialists when they when they have heightened mistakes and maybe
(00:28):
can carry that on for a long time.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
That's kind of part of everybody's experience. You have a
good day, a bad day, and you have to keep going.
So not just the specialist, but I kind of want
to check in with everybody because they all whether you
won by one hundred or lost by one hundred, they
all walk out of those games with their own individual
experience of how they did. So even on a crushing
team victory, you're kind of like, hey, how'd you do?
(00:53):
Are we okay? What can we do? Kind of thing,
because I'm just dealing with all of them at the
same time. Ryan did a nice job of getting back
to work, and he's done this same thing on his
best games and the other ones, so I just kind
of look forward to him staying that way. But we
have a lot of guys that are like that, and
one game doesn't necessarily lead directly to the next. One.
It's a whole new set of circumstances. Thank you, of course.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Hey, Tracy, so you just looking at punt returner. You guys
have cycled through about four or five guys so far
this season. I'm sure David Moore's injury is obviously a
factor in that. Is curious where you guys are at
as far as trying to find maybe it's one regular
returner at this point in time, We're.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Trying to use the guy's week to week on who
we think can be successful against that particular team and
also what their other skill sets are. Both Trevor and
DJ Dallas have played other positions on punt return so
far for us before, So how to use one guy
and how does it affect the other ten kind of thing.
So it's kind of been a weekly decision until somebody
(01:51):
really kind of grabs the title belt for a while.
You know, you kind of keep moving and give everybody
a chance to do whatever they can do best. Yeah, thanks,
I'll go with Darren Gant, followed by Cass.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I was actually also going to ask about punt returns Tracy.
Is there is there almost an element like a baseball
bullpen where you've got different guys for different returns or
you know, in this situation, I like Hunter, in this situation,
I like somebody else.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Uh. This has been the team I've been on the
head the most guys who could catch an NFL punt,
for sure, So there's been more optionality in that way
throughout a game. You've seen us use multiple guys within
a game, and that's sometimes that there's a short field
catcher and a long field catcher. So that's a way
to get more people involved within a particular game strictly
(02:42):
punt to punt or scheme to scheme, not as much,
but but that's the same sort of thing. We got
a long reliever and a short reliever. If we have
to do a baseball thing. What's the favorite baseball team
of the Charlotte Peoples the Knights.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
And that's a contentious subject.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Okay, sorry, I want to get into that. Bruce told
me nothing controversial. Don't ask Mike or Joe about that
at all. Please don't. Oh, Mike showing his phillies.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
This is Brave's country, Tracy.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Oh, okay, good to know I grew up a New
Orleans Zephyr fan. Cool.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Okay, I'm gonna go back to football real quick. Turpin
is I think like second in the NFL and returns.
What is it that just kind of makes him so special?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
A fantastic talent has been that way his whole life
was like that in college, just has a kN act
for it. Incredibly fast, exceptional change of direction, and then
tough can run through a tackle kind of And then
actually a fantastic tracker of punts and kickoffs, does a
nice job getting to the catch point and can make
a play. He's out there to make something happen. Really
(03:50):
dangerous returner that we have to deal with in both
coverage phases, kickoff and punt.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
When you have a returner like that who can do
so many things, how do you prepare Like is it
mostly film study or is it practice reps? Like what's
the best way to prepare for somebody like him? Or
or is it kind of like you just got to
get to a game and some of these guys have
to fill his speed on at least the first return.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You'd hope that it doesn't take a whole return to
figure that out. So we post to warning signs all
over the walls kind of thing. Danger danger, danger returner
kind of deal. He can do everything, So we got
to show his history, show what he's best at and
how we can deal with it and do our best
to play within our techniques to go get the punk
(04:36):
covered no matter who's back there.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I'm going to assume that was a joke, but just
to be a journalist in check, are there really signs
all over the wall?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
There's no way for anyone outside of the building to know,
but smart invisible mental signs. I like it.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Thanks, Tracy Joe Parrison.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
If you show up next Thursday with the New Orleans
Zephyr at David Newton will buy your lunch. Just just
let me just start with that. Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Your dirty kickoffs have it looked as dirty lately? Is
(05:16):
that because teams have done a nice job countering them
or you having you having fits change them up a lot?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Since that Atlanta game costs so much habit, there's different
strategies a return team can use. The closer they are
to the front of the landing zone, the harder it
is to get a ball at their feet, you know.
So there's that that opens up other possibilities of different
kicks that we've been able to use with teams have
challenge that we've gone through the same process with our
(05:48):
return team. Do you take away a short kick? Is
that more dangerous? Do you take away the deep kick?
Which ones? You know, like risk reward on both of
those things. Those two guys have to over a box
that's twenty yards deep and fifty three yards wide and
you only have two people to do it. So we're
reacting to that as a kicking team. They're reacting to
(06:09):
as a returning team, and then the other way. So
it's kind of a puzzle that all of us are
putting together based on the game conditions as well the
weather that day, all those things. So if you're presented
with an opportunity to get the ball on the ground,
you'd like to The teams that are really succeeding are
making the ones that the returners do catch also challenging.
So we're just kind of like looking for an edge
(06:29):
on all of them. It doesn't always look the same
teams are doing a nice job of eliminating the ball
that bounces three times, because that's the true problem. Thanks sure, thank.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
You, Hey, Tracy. I know you guys bring up being
developmentally minded, but that also kind of serves as how
you're mentoring probably the other coaches within the staff. I
know I asked you about Darren last year, But what's
been the growth from year one to yer two for him?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Same for all of us, same for anybody in their job.
Once you get the basics covered and you can do
those and you can start expanding where you go where
you can go with your job. So year two, his
reach on the team has outreached the number of guys
that he can connect to because of his expertise, growing
is so much stronger. He can work with a guy
impump protection and a gunner in coverage or someone on
(07:24):
their blocks. The more things that you are comfortable managing
material wise, the more people that you can help. He's
kind of learned that, learned how to relate to more
different types of guys kind of thing. He had an
advantage because he played for nine years, so he'd always
been a mentor on the teams that he was on
already for the linebackers or the specialists or whoever's in
(07:44):
his room. But last year was his first time ever
talking to a punter about punting for sure, or snappers
or kickers or all that stuff. So he's a he's
a real worker, and he's always expanding his knowledge base
and has been a real asset to us improving as
quick as you can.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
When you have a guy kind of like BERKOVICI who's younger,
who can be involved in raps and kind of show
the physical elements of it, how much is how much
does that help the teaching process.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
It's great to have a young coach who can participate
with the guys for special teams. If you're involved with
the offensive line, the defensive line, and the quarterbacks, just
schedule wise, you can't really help with special teams. So
I don't connect with Mike as much because he's always
dealing with the quarterbacks. But the other guys, the guys
that are working with the defensive backs, the wide receivers,
the tight ends, the ones that are available during special teams,
we try to get as much of usefulness as we can,
(08:35):
try to help them develop as a coach, and that
also help us because we just talked about it. It's
a big field. There's eleven guys on special teams that
are spread out coast to coast, So as many guys
as we can get to help, I will use anybody.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Sure see are there other guys on this roster who
could catch a punt and what makes a good punt catcher.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, you see him sometimes after practice. The guys all
that are prospective punk catchers. Several guys on the practice
squad stay after for their catches. Also Jann Koker, who
just got activated a couple days ago, he's always back
there with the punk catchers. There are some qualities of it.
A lot of it is just tracking the ball. The
guys who know where it's gonna land have a huge
(09:18):
advantage because they're not moving when it gets there. What
truly creates a challenging punk catch's if you are moving
when the ball lands. So if the uh oh, we'll
just go right down your alley that you started earlier.
The center fielders, if you can get to where the
ball is going to land and know right there, then
it makes everything so much, so much easier to deal with.
So it's the same as like a deep ball catch.
(09:39):
The guys that truly can track a ball and understand
the physics of it, whether they do it explicitly or not,
have a big advantage because those things come down really
fast and the spirals tighter than a normal spin because
of how hard it is spinning the revolutions of it.
So as long as you're perfect with your feet, it's
much easier with your hands. And some guys are natural catchers.
(10:01):
They can kind of make it up. Rod Woods and
used to catch the ball over his head because he
was such a good catcher with his hands, you know
that kind of thing. There's some exceptional guys like that.
David Moore is like that. If you tell him to
catch the ball above his head or below his knees,
he can do both in the same day kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Does a baseball player make a better returner?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Then there's a guy, one of Claire's friends at the
combine that always ask the guys about their baseball history.
He's always looking for outfielders to cat to catch punts.
So there's something about tracking a ball, a struck ball,
or a punted ball in the air that matches with
those two skills. Certainly not a prerequisite, but there's something
(10:38):
about being far away from where it started and being
able to get your body there. There's an imagination level
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