Mike Priefer Tasked With Rebuilding Pitt's Special Teams Units

PITTSBURGH — One unit that has played consistently well the past few seasons for the Pitt Panthers has been the special teams.

The former coordinator of that third phase of the game was Jacob Bronowski, who was consistently praised for the success of his special teams units in his two seasons with Pitt.

Under Bronowski's control, the field goal unit went 42-for-50 on attempts with redshirt senior Ben Sauls and true freshman Trey Butkowski as the primary kickers, and the punt return unit scored three touchdowns, with two coming in 2025.

Since the end of the regular season, Bronowski has become the special teams coordinator at Auburn; both kickers, Butkowski and Sam Carpenter, have transferred; returners Kenny Johnson, Desmond Reid and Deuce Spann are no longer on the team, and the same with punters Caleb Junko and Cade Dowd and long snappers Nilay Upadhyayula, Henry Searcy and Nico Crawford.

Name	Position	Status
Trey Butkowski, Fr.	K	Transferred (Michigan)
Sam Carpenter, R-So.	K	Transferred (Sam Houston)
Caleb Junko, R-Sr.	P	Graduation
Cade Dowd, R-Jr.	P	Tranfer Portal
Nilay Upadhyayula, R-Sr.	LS	Graduation
Nico Crawford, R-Jr.	LS	Transferred (Michigan)
Henry Searcy, Fr.	LS	Transferred (Charlotte)
Desmond Reid, Sr.	PR	Graduation/NFL Draft
Kenny Johnson, Jr.	PR	Transferred (Texas Tech)
Deuce Spann, R-Sr.	KR	Graduation/NFL Draft

Pitt has since brought in a new crop of special teamers from all levels of college football, and even some walk-on high school players. Now, new special teams coordinator Mike Priefer will be tasked with rebuilding the units.

"We've got a whole new young group, and that excites me," Priefer said during his introductory press conference on Feb. 18. "I don't know if I mold them, but I'm going to help them fit the image of what we think every great special teams player should be at every position. We're going to help them get there."

Toughness, Effort, Discipline, Enthusiasm

The modern college game is still relatively new to Priefer, but coaching is not.

Priefer has just one year of experience at the college level in the past two decades, and he was fired after his only season. In his defense, he was part of a dysfunctional North Carolina team that went 4-8 in 2025.

Priefer actually has lots of college experience, just not recently. His first coaching gig was at Navy as a graduate assistant from 1994-96, then Youngstown State from 1997-98, VMI in 1999 and then met Pat Narduzzi as part of the Northern Illinois staff in 2000-01.

Most of Priefer's coaching experience is in the NFL, where he had short stints with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos. The bulk of his time was spent as the special teams coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings from 2011-18 and the Cleveland Browns from 2019-22.

Jun 11, 2013; Eden Prairie, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer gets ready for the Minnesota Vikings Minicamp at Winter Park. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Over that time, Priefer has developed a four-word coaching philosophy that he plans to implement at Pitt: toughness, effort, discipline and enthusiasm.

Toughness and effort are required in football and need no further explanation, but Priefer described the kind of discipline he's looking for with a quote from legendary Indiana Hoosiers basketball coach Bob Knight: "Discipline is recognizing what has to be done, doing it as well as you can do it, and doing it that way all the time."

As for enthusiasm, well, that's pretty self-explanatory too.

"I think you have to love football if you're going to cover a kickoff," Priefer said. "You have to be a little bit nuts. And you've got to love football to be a punt returner. I mean, those guys, it's a dangerous job at times. So, at the end of the day, loving the game and playing at a high level, playing with mental and physical toughness and playing a disciplined style of football — that's who we are."

Priefer's Offseason Goals

Priefer is starting with the basics this spring as part of this special teams rebuild. He said that the key is to start with the fundamentals and techniques. He added that kickoff, kickoff return and punt return will only focus on fundamentals for now, while punt, field goal and field goal block will be introduced to his scheme, as those are more basic.

"You can't just draw up a scheme and say, 'I hope you're going to be good at it.' You have to help them and put them in position to be successful," he said.

There will also be position battles everywhere starting in the summer. Idaho State transfer Gabe Russo and Kaemon Tijerina will duke it out at punter, Purdue transfer Justin Schmidt and walk-on Alex Rudolph will contend for the starting long snapper spot and transfers Sam Hunsaker, Antonio Chadha and walk-on freshman Carter Genchi will battle to be the primary kicker.

Name	Position	By Way Of
Gabe Russo, R-Jr.	P	Idaho State
Kaemon Tijerina, R-Fr.	P
Justin Schmidt, R-Fr.	LS	Purdue
Alex Rudolph, Fr.	LS	Walk-On
Sam Hunsaker, Jr.	K	Northern Arizona
Antonio Chadha, R-Sr.	K	Western Illinois (Walk-On)
Carter Genchi, Fr.	K	Walk-On

Priefer said that he expects good competition at each position, including kickoff return and punt return, but did not give the names of who could be in contention.

Priefer also noted his familiarity with Tijerina, since he was the only returning special teams player from a season ago.

"When I first got here for my interview, they asked me to watch Kaemon, and I said, 'I like this kid. You don't want him to go to the portal.'"

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