It’s been nearly a week since head coach Sean Kugler relieved former offensive coordinator Brent Pease of his duties on the team and replaced him with Brian Natkin, the former special teams and tight ends coach.
The Miners are currently the second worst team in the country for total offense in FBS, averaging only 2014.7 yards per game and just five total touchdowns. On the ground they aren’t much better either. They average just 38.7 yards per game.
Throughout a week of practice, Natkin has thought to bring a new mentality to the forefront—passion for the sport.
“That (passion) was our first meeting on Sunday night with the offense,” he said. “That’s something we’re missing here—guys genuinely excited to step on the grass and play together as a team and playing with their hearts. That’s how we breakdown our offense now—passion. I want them to use passion to bring energy to the level.”
His roots for the sport date back to his upbringing in San Antonio, where he developed his passion for football.
He got his start as a tight end at Churchill High School and went on to become an All-American tight end at UTEP in 2000. He returned to the program in 2011 as a full-time assistant. He’s coached offensive line before and now he will be also taking on the receiving corps.
For Natkin, this change has been one he is adjusting towards well.
“Things changed a little different responsibilities. Working with the wide receivers. Seeing the big picture, now I’ve got to see the big picture of the offense,” he said. “It’s always difficult with change, but sometimes change brings the best in people. I think guys are responding, we had a couple hiccups but we’ll get them cleaned in the film room.”
In response to the change, the players have also seen an important change.
“There’s a lot more energy brought to the table and Natkin’s always been that way,” receiver Kavika Johnson said. “We got back to our basics, ran our bread-and-butter and we need to bring a lot more passion to the game, which is something we’re missing.”
Similarly, offensive lineman Derek Elmendorff is fan of Natkin and respects the decision.
“He’s high energy,” Elmendorf said. “He was my recruiter in high school and always brought that energy then. He’s expecting us to be absolutely sound in practice, hustling back to the line, and giving loads of effort.”
Last game, the Miners only had nine rushing plays. It was one in which Kugler swore would never happen again, which Natkin agreed on.
“I think when you’re 0-3 and you’re almost last in the nation in total offense, whether you open it up or whether you have a condensed formation, nothing really looks good,” Natkin said. “We started tight, only had nine runs and then we turned into a must-pass situation. That didn’t look good either. We’ve got to buckle down, start fast. To me, everything must start with the run. That might not be the most popular thing to say with everybody, but if you start to establish the line of scrimmage, everything good will happen.”
Breaking down the passion plays and moving towards a balanced attack is the obvious transition. It’s also one that Kugler’s proud of Natkin for continuing the coach-player relationship he had.
“Brian’s very detail organized and he came out and coached the way he always has,” Kugler said in his press conference on Monday, “He’s used to coaching most of the players already since he was a special teams coordinator so they have familiarity with him.”
During his press conference, Kugler touched how he couldn’t understand how the team had such good talent, yet couldn’t produce off plays. Natkin’s resolution to it is keeping plays simple and rectifying packages.
“Getting these guys in the best situation to make them successful,” he said. “We have some guys who are good at some stuff and they aren’t great at the other stuff. Let’s focus what they’re good on and don’t do what they aren’t good on. If that means fixing personnel packages, and fixing them right, that’s what I’ve been working on most.”
Natkin and the Miners will debut their offense against New Mexico on Saturday in Las Cruces.
Feature Photo by Adrian Broaddus, TexasHSFootball.com
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