Special teams coordinator Chris White feels confident in the Memphis athletes he has at his disposal heading into his second season with the Tigers.

One player he is bullish about is defensive back Julian Barnett, who’s been receiving a lot of praise from the coaching staff this offseason. Cornerbacks coach Reggie Howard already said during spring practices that he believes Barnett has an NFL skillset.

White echoed that belief when talking about Barnett as a gunner on special teams earlier this week.

“He’s as good of a gunner as I’ve been involved with in college,” White said. “And that’s the position that’s so sought after in the NFL.

“He’s rare. We talk in special teams meetings all the time about the value of making an NFL roster. You have to have special teams value. … He has the ability to play and dominate in that league as a gunner.”

The gunner is a specialized position in punt coverage whose main job is to race down the field immediately after the ball is snapped. They are expected to be the first line of defense against the returner. The gunner is usually the first to field the ball when trying to prevent a touchback in the end zone. Punting teams will have one gunner on each side of the field. The position is arguably the most important part of the punting unit outside of the punter.

“Great cover guys find the ball,” White said. “They just find the ball. They just show up. They might not be the greatest players in the world, but all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Who made that play? How did he make that play?’ (Barnett) has that ability. We’re looking for more guys like that. You have to have spatial awareness. Special teams is all about space. Can they make good decisions in space?”

The Tigers ranked near the middle of the country by allowing 8.11 yards per punt return in 2023. Memphis, however, didn’t offer many return opportunities. It only allowed nine return attempts all season, which tied for the 22nd-lowest returns allowed in the nation.

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Having a quality gunner helps prevent catastrophic punt returns. White believes Barnett, at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, has the perfect skill set to star in that role.

“He’s got that length, that’s the first thing,” White said. “And then he’s got explosiveness. In the NFL, you’re going to get, … double-teamed every play. So you can’t be a skinny guy back there. You can have speed, but you’ve got to have some strength to you.

“It’s an exhausting play, so that’s one thing. The relentless effort and the mindset that you’ve got to have is really rare, and he has that. But more importantly, this guy has a knack for finding the ball. He just has a knack for showing up.”

The Tigers also have two returners and a long snapper coming back and they added a couple of new kickers. White had high praise for senior long snapper Colby Cox. 

“Really, the glue to the whole thing is Colby Cox,” White said. “He’s a veteran snapper. You don’t understand how important that guy is until you don’t have him. He’s one of the better ones in the country. … His snap velocity and accuracy is what really sets him apart.”

Here is what White said about some of the other key special teams players.