COFFEETOWN HS SPORTS

High school football punters, you have a tremendous opportunity this fall. And it all starts with a blessed piece of equipment.

While on the internet hunt for some on-brand Coffeetown material, I discovered a remarkable video on Twitter.com.

It was Florida State’s Lombardi and Butkus Award-winning linebacker Marvin Jones in high school circa 1989.

This was a golden era for high school football aesthetics and ephemera*, so I knew this content had potential.

(*I would recommend watching ‘Friday Night Lights’ to get a sense of it, but the production crew opted to give all the players in that movie modern-day equipment for some reason).

But it wasn’t just Jones’s BIKE helmet and neck roll that made him jump off of my screen.

It was the fact that the big fella was punting the football.

That’s right, Marvin Jones didn’t just bust skulls at Miami Northwestern HS. He skied punts, too, son

Marvin Jones wrecked the competition on his way to a stellar career at Florida State and eventually the New York Jets as a fourth-overall NFL Draft pick in 1993.

But before that, Jones had enough humility and enough leg to kick the crap out of some regulation high school footballs – while simultaneously earning High School All-American honors as a linebacker.

Maybe no one else on Miami Northwestern’s roster wanted to punt.

Maybe no one else could.

So, one of the most terrifying linebacker prospects in Miami-Dade County history became the most terrifying punter in all of high school football history.

Jones left high school at 6’2″ 225 pounds.

The neck roll just completed the horror-film-villain look that stood 15 yards behind the long snapper.

I don’t have Marvin Jones’s punting stats. I don’t know what he averaged per kick or what his net yardage was.

But I do know that if he didn’t kick touchbacks, the other team’s punt returner probably called for more fair catches than most.

Imagine a D1 linebacker prospect kicking you the ball, and then instantly turning into the most effective player on the punt coverage team.

You know how football coaches go on and on about ‘all three phases’ of the game?

Marvin Jones was the entire third phase of Northwestern Miami High School football.

So, high school football punters, take a page out of Marvin Jones’s book

Whether you’re 6’2″ 225 pounds or not, consider a neck roll this season.

Start practicing with it this summer. Maybe a cowboy collar or a butterfly restrictor are more your style.

Either way, I believe a neck apparatus of any sort will add results to your punts.

If not in the form of actual yardage due to your surge in confidence, the intimidation factor and increased fair catch calls will help your team win the field position battle on Friday nights.

Neck roll not the move?

Then start loading up on peanut butter jellies and cheeseburgers and pre-/post-workout supplements.

Strike fear into the hearts of your opponents with your massive stature as you boom punts in pregame warmups.

Sure, you’ll look like a create-a-player on Madden or NCAA Football.

But you’ll become the stuff of High School football legend in the process.

Just ask Marvin Jones.

Or Andy Reid.