Secondary coach Derek Jones is one of two new hires by Matt Wells that will strengthen his defense. Jones is happy to be in Lubbock and inherits a group of players that he’ll try to groom into elite defenders in the backfield.

It may be just day two of spring practice but Jones named a couple of players who have bought in early and flashing on the football field.

“In the secondary, I like a lot of the things that Zech McPhearson’s doing,” Jones said. “I think he does a lot of things back there by example that’s leadership for us. We moved Damarcus Fields inside to the nickel position and he’s looked pretty good. The guy that I think has a lot of potential that’s a young guy on the football team is Alex Hogan. He has a lot of natural talent and he’s raw but I’m excited about helping to develop him.”

Jones said one thing he’s noticed with this group is their hunger for success. He mentioned it goes beyond the field in how he’s noticing that.

It’s obvious eye contact, studying in their spare time and being determined for that success. It’s about learning what they need to in order to get better. That goes back to fundamentals.

“Just basic fundamentals of football; the simple things that take no talent,” Jones said when asked about the signs his guys are bought in. “How well they take notes in meetings, how they run to the football, the types of questions they ask. The misnomer in football is all the things you have to do off the field in order to be good on the field.”

He continued...

“A lot of guys dress up in uniform just to be a part of the team but being good and trying to win a championship is an all the time thing. So what we’re trying to instill in them now is you know, ‘’t has to be something where we don’t have enough time as coaches to get you as good as you can be.’ But, I think the thing that we’re trying to instill in them now and that they’re catching on to is they’re doing the things off the field to try to get themselves to reach their full potential.”

Jones said he believes in spring football that coaches have to be patient in teaching players how to play the game of football. He added the scheme doesn’t matter unless they know how to play the game.

“So what we’ve all agreed upon as a defensive staff is we’re going to teach them how to play the game, how to run to the ball, how to fit their hands ... because when you go back and look at film on guys, a lot of those mistakes are made before the snap is even started. And if we can get good at those things, which take no talent, we’ve got a chance to get good at everything else.”

“I think the thing you have to be is competitive,” Jones said. “You have to have a short memory and you have to be determined. Those guys over there are on scholarship too and that’s the one thing I teach to all defensive backs when they’re doing that.”

“But you know, you just have to buy-in and listen. One of the hardest things to learn when you’re trying to become good at something is you learn your best lessons from failure. And when things go bad that gives me an opportunity on film to teach. That gives me an opportunity as a coach on the field to teach and it gives them the chance to find out where they went wrong ... When things go bad the one thing you can’t do playing defensive back is pout. You can’t get upset because the moment that you show that you’re frustrated or the moment you show weakness is the moment the offense is going to try to come exploit you. I think the mental toughness part of it on my end is one of the things you have to instill just like you do any other technique in playing.”

Prior to special teams coach Mark Tommerdahl speaking, Matt Wells lingered around the media and was asked what he would ask his coordinator if given the opportunity. In all good fun, Wells said to ask Tommerdahl if he had anything different planned for kickoff coverage this year.

“Yes,” Tommerdahl said confidently.

Tommerdahl struck gold with his punter and kicker, freshman All-American Austin McNamara and Trey Wolff, respectively. For McNamara, it’s about getting into the weight room. Maturing is his overall next step.

Wolff was consistent on field goals but said kickoffs were declining as the season went on. His biggest emphasis is staying consistent on touchbacks.

He mentioned coming out of spring ball last year “quite uncertain” about Wolff’s ability. As the season went on he ended up being the guy for the job with a solid demeanor for moving on from kick-to-kick.

Tommerdahl said the word “elite” gets used too much in today’s game but he believes a couple of his units were just that. The kickoff coverage bottomed out with the other units being “meat grinders,” which translated to pretty consistent. If they can get all six unites to that elite level then they’ll be playing past Christmas time.

Spring practice will only make those elite units already better. He added they just have to get fundamentally better at things to get to where they want to be.

Fun fact: Tommerdahl is a big Bob Seger fan. He went to see Seger on his so-called “final tour” in “Detroit rock city.”

“We’re hoping for one more finale but the official tour is over ... I’ve seen him - I don’t count but I’ve followed Bob all over this country.”