‘Every yard matters’ as Iowa State seeks to shore up special teams units

AMES — First, the good news: Iowa State’s punt coverage unit proved to be elite last season, ranking fifth nationally among FBS programs, and punter Tyler Perkins earned second-team freshman All-America honors from The Athletic.

Now, the broad-ranging bad news: The Cyclones tumbled toward the bottom ranks in terms of field goal percentage, touchback percentage and kickoff returns.

ISU simply can’t win with regularity when it's ranked 118th or worse in any — let alone three — special teams categories.

As a result, Cyclones football coach Matt Campbell brought in Jordan Langs to coordinate those units while also coaching the running backs.

“I think the statistic that’s so important is 17 percent of the plays that you play in a football game are special teams plays,” Campbell said. “So sometimes you say it’s a third of the game, but it’s really not, but those 17 percent of the plays can be absolutely critical in the result of the football game, so it starts with how do you not beat yourself.”

It also starts with believing in yourself, which is one reason Campbell chose to tab the 34-year-old Langs as the Cyclones’ dedicated special teams coordinator.

Langs starred as a player at Division III Wheaton (Ill.) College, then in 2016, started a new NAIA football program at Indiana Wesleyan. He coached the Wildcats through 2022 — and last season they went 11-2 while reaching the NAIA FCS semifinals.

“(His) first job out of the gate is to start a program from scratch,” Campbell said. “Build a facility. Start a football team. Recruit to not playing games and then all of a sudden playing games, and then having success. I think all of those things were intriguing and Jordan’s certainly polished in how he communicates with young people, how he communicates with the team, and then the overall vision, I think, when you think special teams, it does serve every aspect of the program.

“It’s about the ball. It’s about field position.”

It also often tips the scales when it comes to winning or losing. A few errant field goal attempts last season prevented ISU from inching a win or two above its final 4-8 mark. As for kickoffs, the Cyclones ranked 122nd in touchback percentage, at 24.07 percent, and 72nd in opponent’s average kickoff return yardage, which means they weren’t winning the field position battle very often, either.

“Nobody covered more kicks last year in college football than Iowa State did,” Campbell said. “We need to get some balls in the back of the end zone. We need to not have to cover — and when you look a year prior, too, and you have Andrew Mevis, we had the least amount of covered kicks in college football.”

Whether ISU can find another placekicker adept at blasting footballs through the end zone for touchbacks is unclear, but a tight competition between Jace Gilbert, Keegan Shackford and Nebraska transfer Chase Contreraz has formed this fall.

“Competition is important,” Langs said. “I think we’ve done a good job of improving the overall talent in that room, so the competition is good right now. Every single day those guys are put in pressure situations in front of the team and they’re each doing stuff that’s very encouraging.”

The Cyclones weren’t particularly strong in their own return games last season, either, ranking 81st in average punt returns and 118th in average kickoff returns.

ISU’s top returning wide receiver, Jaylin Noel, looks to be a prime No. 1 candidate at each of those spots, but Darien Porter, Dimitri Stanley and Eli Sanders, among others, are in the mix, as well.

“Noel’s coming back and he’s (capable of being) an elite returner, and we’ve got other guys there, too,” Langs said. “So we’re excited about, I think, some improvement we can show in that area.”

“Some” improvement won’t be enough, but if it occurs in each phase of special teams, it’s a promising start. Especially in the kicking game, where a make or a miss here and there can often be the difference given how often the Cyclones are embroiled in close games.

“Every yard matters,” Langs said. “We really want to be a positive force for our football team.”

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