Meet John Jancek, the new LSU special teams coordinator

BY HENRY HUBER @HenryHuber_

In 2022, LSU football finished No. 130 in special teams efficiency according to ESPN’s Power Index. Considering there were 131 teams in the FBS last season, that’s not a fact that makes many Tiger fans ecstatic.

Behind Brian Polian, the unit placed outside the top 100 in kickoff return defense, punt return defense, blocked kicks and blocked kicks allowed, with the stats by no means telling the full story.

A breakdown on the line allowed Florida State to block a potential game-tying extra point, which followed multiple muffed punts from Malik Nabers. A muffed kickoff against Tennessee immediately turned the tide in the Volunteers’ favor in what quickly spiraled into a demoralizing blowout.

The list goes on. While Polian would remain with the team to help navigate the transfer portal and manage the roster, his time as the special teams coordinator would come to an end following the 2022-23 season.

Enter John Jancek.

On Feb. 28, the then-senior defensive analyst was promoted to be the team’s next special teams coordinator, along with receiving a second designation as the outside linebackers coach.

Amidst his three-decade career, those marked his seventh and eighth coaching positions in the SEC alone, which have spanned from a defensive quality control coach with Georgia, where he won a national championship, to the defensive coordinator at Tennessee. Considering Jancek’s extensive SEC background and experience, the move made a lot of sense.

With all the coaching jobs he’s had over his career and the fact that Bryan Kelly hired him specifically to take care of the team’s biggest flaw from last season, it may come as a sur- prise that he has never actually been a special teams coordinator before. However, Jancek doesn’t see it that way.

“I’ve been a part of special teams my entire career as a defensive coach,” Jancek claimed. “Linebackers, safeties, whatever it may be. All those guys are very involved in special teams.”

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RETURN, from page 9 but it was promising and meaningful.

After delivering three balls through his first four pitches, he finished off the first batter with back-to-back strikes. Then, when faced with a 2-2 count at the second, he caught the Cajun swinging to secure his second strikeout of the contest.

Though there were a few shaky pitches here and there, it seemed like Coleman got more into a groove with every pitch he

TRANSFER, from page 9 prospect in the Class of 2019, according to 247sports. He held offers from schools like Baylor, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Living in Oregon, however, Speights ultimately chose Oregon State.

The 6-foot-1 linebacker was able to get on the field right away as a freshman, recording 71 total tackles, including 42 solo tackles, 3.5 sacks, a fumble recovery and an interception. He made freshman All-American teams on several publications and was Pac-12 honorable mention freshman defensive player of the year.

Speights received many accolades in the years to come, but his junior season is when he really made a statement. In the 2022 season, Speights recorded 83 total tackles, including39 solo tackles and eight tackles for loss. He received All-Pac-12 first team honors, and Phil Steele All-Pac-12 First Team and he were on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List and the Bednarik Award Watch List, both given to the top defensive player in college football.

In his career at Oregon State, he totaled 308 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, five sacks and seven pass deflections.

In mid-January, however, Speights announced that he planned to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. Shortly after, he signed with LSU.

“I just was ready for the change, and I think I wanted to challenge myself and come play SEC ball,” Speights said. “It [LSU] just felt like the right place.”

Speights finding himself in Baton Rouge was just as big of

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On the same topic, he believes that his chemistry with Kelly plays a large role in both his comfort with the position and Kelly’s trust in him getting the job done. They have had multiple coaching stints together, most notably when Jancek was Kelly’s defensive coordinator at Grand Valley State from 1999-2002.

“With me having coached for Kelly in the past, he had a comfort level with me,” Jancek said. “We had great communication and really it was not what we did, but how we did it.”

In terms of special teams and fixing its problems from last sea- threw. His fastball was effective, with it steadily climbing up to 95 miles per hour by the end of the inning. He credited his time in the weight room for a near-seamless return and improvement throughout the inning.

“My big thing was just getting in the training room, getting healthy and getting stronger,” Coleman said. “Last year and the year before, I think I lacked strength more than anything.”

While he wouldn’t retire the inning with three strikeouts, he would retire it with the help of right-fielder Brayden Jobert. After pitching two strikes, Louisiana-Lafayette’s Carson Roccaforte nailed one towards right field, and Jobert fielded it to conclude the inning.

That would mark the end of the night for the redshirt sophomore, as the coaching staff would send Thatcher Hurd in to relieve him at the beginning of the second inning. Coleman finished the night with two strikeouts, zero hits given up and a strike rate of 56% on 16 total pitches.

Fans likely looked back on the performance fondly throughout the night, not just because it was decent but because things got rough right after his departure and remained that way through much of the night.

Hurd would give up two earned runs in a third of an inning before being relieved by Riley Cooper. Then, Cooper gave up four in the third and fourth combined to put the Tigers down 6-3 heading into the fifth.

“We needed those pitchers to pitch tonight. This is not just a grouping of guys. We need them to be good,” head coach Jay Johnson said on the bullpen. “You’re letting them do what they want to do, and you can’t do that against that team.” a change of scenery as when he moved from Philadelphia to Corvallis, Oregon. But as for this spring season, Speights found himself not only having to adjust to a new locker room, but he now finds himself in a leadership role. son, Jancek says the focus now is on the present and doing everything they can to make this current unit the best it can be.

It isn’t the end of the world that LSU was upset by the Cajuns but a collective performance like this won’t fly in the postseason. A game where the Tigers gave up eight runs and 14 hits in a loss illustrates just how much they need their bullpen to return to form, or as much as it can. With Coleman back, they’re one step closer to doing that.

The LSU linebacker corps exceeded expectations last season. Harold Perkins Jr. turned many heads alone with a stellar season that earned him freshman AllAmerican honors.

They have coaches assigned to different areas of each unit.

For example, graduate assistants Zac Jancek and Nick Coleman are designated to each side of the punt team and Special Teams Analyst Lester Erb is focused on its overall organization.

On the players, the focus is getting multiple guys plenty of reps throughout spring, especially when it comes to fielding punts. The guys currently getting reps include Greg Clayton Jr, Sage Ryan, Noah Cain and freshman receiver Kyle Parker.

“He’s a good guy,” Speights said of Perkins. “Good player, good person.”

With Perkins, a sophomore, and Greg Penn III, a junior, both returning to the linebacker room, the two now have a more experienced linebacker alongside them to watch and learn from.

“It’s an exciting challenge,” Speights said. “You got to develop relationships with guys. When you develop relationships with

Jancek said Aaron Anderson would also be involved once he returns.

“It’s an ongoing evaluation, but we feel good with the guys we have back there,” Jancek said. “There’s a number of guys that are getting work and the amount of reps that they need to get so that we have a comfort level as punt returners and kick returners.”

Regarding his designation as the outside linebackers coach, both Kelly and defensive coordinator Matt House believe having an individual focused on developing their pass rush is something it needs to take that area to the next level. House added that the complexity of the JACK people, you could tell them the hard stuff that they need to hear.”

While both Perkins and Penn have college experience, the experience Speights has is second to none. Not only has he recorded impressive numbers during his time at Oregon State, but he is a player that has had to adapt to different environments while still trying to perform at his best.

Lessons that are learned in experiences like these aren’t found linebacker position is often underestimated.

“They can be part of the coverage or be part of the front. They can be an inside rusher or an outside rusher,” House said. “Although it’s not the most difficult position to learn from an assignment standpoint, it’s very important that you drill the technical aspect of that position.”

Like his assignment to special teams, Jancek has never keyed in on the outside linebacker position. But due to his overall experience at coaching defense, he believes he’s more than capable of tackling it.

“I’m pretty well-versed in coverage, I’m pretty well-versed within many, and it could be experience useful for when Penn and Perkins eventually go onto the NFL draft.

For now, the three look to command an LSU defense that is returning a lot of talent. Speights finding himself as a potential ringleader of that defense is something nobody could have expected. A kid from Philadelphia found himself in Oregon and now in Baton Rouge, and that journey in pass rush and pretty well versed in the run game,” Jancek said. “I think that’s the outside linebacker position.”

While his experience is a huge talking point, another aspect of his character that’s consistently brought up is his energy. When House and defensive end Ovie Oghoufo were asked about him, each cited his energy and wisdom as reasons they’re high on him.

“He comes in and drops knowledge and expects a lot from us. And it’s fun, he’s a fun coach. Very active, very elusive.” Oghoufo said. “It makes it fun for us at practice, but you know, he’s demanding, which is good too.”