When the Denver Broncos hired Brock Olivo to be their special teams coordinator, it was apparent from his very first press conference back in January that he was going to bring energy.
As the Broncos make their way through their spring program, Olivo is working to make sure that his special teams players bring just as much energy to their work as he does.
“That’s part of being a special teamer,” Olivo said after Wednesday’s minicamp practice. “That’s that niche part of it that makes it special. The guys know that we have a small, small window to work in. We’re high energy in the meeting room, and we’re high energy on the field. The guys feed off that and they feed of each other.”
Olivo inherits a Broncos special teams unit that ranked first in the NFL in kicking and punting, but ranked 22nd in kick and punt returns. According to Olivo, as long as the returners are aggressive, improvements will follow.
“We definitely want them to be aggressive, there’s no question,” Olivo said. “There’s always that fine line though. You’ve got to be smart as well.”
Aggressiveness in the return game could do them some good. The Broncos did not return a punt longer than 25 yards or a kick longer than 46 yards in 2016. The middle-of-the-pack numbers could be partially due to the fact that the Broncos lacked a dynamic returner in 2016, something they believe they’ve found in Isaiah McKenzie, their second selection in the fifth round of the 2017 draft.
“The thing that I love about Isaiah is that he’s got all the confidence in the world in himself,” Olivo said. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”
In his three years as a member of the Georgia Bulldogs, McKenzie returned five punts and one kickoff for a touchdown. He averaged 11.7 yards per punt return and 23.3 yards per kick return. Despite his success in college, Olivo knows that it could take some time for McKenzie to adjust to his role as a returner in the NFL.
“As you guys know, it’s a little bit different here in the NFL,” Olivo said of McKenzie. “He’s going to have gunners in his face at times, PPs (punt protectors) in his face at times, so we have to get him comfortable back there and get him to trust the system. He has to trust that it’s going to be there.”
Whether or not McKenzie has the same success as a returner that he did in college, but as long as he makes good decisions, Olivo can live with the results.
“We definitely want to keep the pressure on the punt team, there’s no question,” Olivo said. “Making good decisions back there is the number one most important thing as a returner.”
