Lamar Thomas, Orlando Guardians special teams and wide receivers coach. (Twitter)
During the course of the last month, as the grind of training camp wore on, Orlando Guardians Special Teams Coach Lamar Thomas found himself in constant contact with one person in particular: It wasn’t a coaching mentor or even a family member. No, it was XFL Head of Officiating Dean Blandino. “I call him all the time about the rules,” Thomas told me. “So I have him on speed dial. I know he’s probably tired of me calling him. But he said, ‘no, you can call me any time. Any time.'”
Such is life when you’re coaching the unit most affected by the XFL’s unique rules. Thomas is tasked with running Orlando’s special teams, while also acting as the wide receivers coach and assistant head coach. “Wide receiver play is something I’ve been doing all my life,” he said. “Being able to get these guys to learn and instruct them on wide receiver play, I could do that in my sleep.” Special teams, especially the XFL’s special teams, is a different animal, however.
Thomas spent eight seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins after playing collegiately at the University of Miami. In fact, he was a teammate of XFL co-owner Dwayne Johnson at Miami. “Back then, I was the star, and he had to wait his turn to talk to me,” Thomas joked. “And now, he is the guy that I gotta go through the proper channels to be able to say hello.”
After coaching wide receivers in four stops over 11 years, Thomas had his first pro coaching job with the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football in 2019. He’s been out of coaching since that time, brought back in part due to his relationship with his former college rival and pro teammate, Terrell Buckley, Orlando’s head coach.
Coaching special teams is not unfamiliar territory for Thomas. “As a position coach, you’ve always had to do special teams work. All the places I’ve been, you’ve had to coach on special teams,” he said. That work prepared him to take on the task with the Guardians.
But it may not have prepared him for the twists and turns that come with coaching special teams in the XFL. With every rule change and tweak, there are ripple effects that Thomas and his players have found out first-hand during training camp. Most of those ripple effects have come on the kickoff.
“When you kick the ball off, and the guy (returner), let’s say he misses the ball,” Thomas said. “We can’t leave until he picks it up! What happens is, in their (the coverage players’) mind, they’re saying, ‘I can leave when he catches the ball.’ Okay? Well, if he doesn’t catch it, let’s say it hits him right in the chest, it looks like he caught it. But if you take off, that’s a penalty! He doesn’t actually have the ball yet.” Indeed, the returner must have possession of the kickoff before the kick coverage team can leave the line of scrimmage. “It’s a funky rule,” Thomas said.
Thomas had to ring up Blandino with a weather-related question as well. “I’ll tell you one of the funniest rules to me is… It was like the first day we were going out to scrimmage, and I called him (Blandino), I just go, ‘what happens if, on the kickoff, it’s a windy day? Do we take a guy off of our kickoff team and put him back there to hold the ball?’ Think about it. On a windy day, you have to have somebody hold the ball, correct? But that’s unfair. What are you going to do, take another guy off their team, put them on the sidelines? Or is it nine against ten? You know what I mean? So that was my thought.” In the end, it was decided that the ball spotting official would hold the ball on the tee for the kicker rather than using a player from the kicking team.
An advantage all special teams coaches in the XFL have in 2023 is the ability to view the five games of tape from the 2020 season. Since many of the special teams rules are the same as in XFL 2.0, coaches have been able to collect ideas based on how the coaches during that season approached things. Thomas said he paid particular attention to what penalties were being called as examples of what not to do. He also said the league has given coaches a rules tape based on the different special teams rules, and he has watched that with his players several times.
One thing Thomas shouldn’t have to worry about are his specialists. Orlando has one of the strongest trios in the league in punter Johnny Townsend, kicker Jose Borregales, and long snapper Ryan Becker. Thomas spoke highly of all three. “Johnny, he’s a really really great athlete,” he said. “He’s a good punter, can put a lot of height on the ball, can kick it far if you need to.”
Townsend was signed during training camp after the release of Andrew Anckle, whom the Guardians drafted in November. “Johnny, being from the Orlando area, we got his name. (Guardians QB Coach) Shane (Matthews) knew of him, (University of) Florida connection type of deal, so we were able to talk to him a little bit, get to know him a little bit. The fact that he’s from Orlando made it even sweeter, because we are the Orlando team, I thought it was a good deal…He’s just been a good dude to have in the locker room.”
“Borregales, man, he’s money,” Thomas said of the team’s kicker. “He’s on top of things. He’s been money for us in practices. We do a lot of…trying to harass him and stuff like that and he’s been pretty much on fire. He’s a very knowledgeable kicker, says he’s been doing it since he was nine years old.”
Borregales was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2021 and nearly won the job out of camp. “Hell, Borregales was competing against Ryan Succop (in Tampa Bay),” Thomas said. “It went down to the wire, but obviously they’re going to give it to the veteran. But I was just surprised he was still out there. To be able to get a guy like that, and Townsend, I think we got two steals.”
Becker not only long snaps for Orlando, but he’s listed as the backup tight end on the team’s week one depth chart. “I don’t see how Becker’s not in the league (NFL). The guy’s pretty dang good,” said Thomas. Becker has played with the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons, and was recently featured on episode one of ESPN’s “Player 54: Chasing the XFL Dream.”
The way Thomas sees it, he felt the Guardians could save a roster spot by having their long snapper perform as a two-way player, something unusual in an era of specialization. “He’s a guy that can play tight end…so we can steal a roster spot and use him as a tight end and bring his snapping duties with us. It’s almost like we got two for one. But he’s an excellent snapper and a pretty damn good tight end too. He does a lot of good stuff for us.”
Thomas knows the path for many XFL players back into the NFL is on special teams. And for some of the players, it may be their first time on that unit. He relayed the story of having never played special teams in college, but was then expected to play on both coverage and return units his rookie season with the Buccaneers.
“But that was the only way I could dress,” said Thomas. “If I don’t play special teams, I’m not dressing. So if you want to play, you got to help the team out in some way. There’s only 53 players, 46 really, and we can’t have you be the third receiver and that’s it. Yougotta do something else. So that’s why I try to harp on the fact that, for you guys in this room, if you want your opportunity to play on Sundays, you better play on Saturday and Sunday in this league and let these people see it. Because if you’re a good player and you’re a special teams person, the doors will open for you.”
To that end, the XFL’s special teams rules will benefit those fringe players looking to make their mark on special teams. The rules encouraging returns also allows for players to show their blocking and coverage skills for NFL scouts, skills that will help them get their foot in the door at the next level.
Similarly, Thomas knows that adding special teams to his coaching resume will help him land future opportunities in the profession. Like his friend Buckley, Thomas envisions himself becoming a head coach someday. “It was a no-brainer as far as where my aspirations were with one day being a head coach myself,” Thomas said about taking this job. “Guys can make it from being a special teams coordinator or offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. I was like, ‘hey, I would love to coach special teams,’ primarily because you’re controlling your segment.”
While the opportunity to become head coach may come in the future, Thomas is focused on the here and now, navigating his special teams unit through the season and all the XFL’s unique rules, knowing he has Dean Blandino’s number if any further questions arise. He hopes his special teams performs up to his friend and head coach’s standards. Thomas, laughing, told me, “I told Buck this, I go, ‘Hey man, I hope this special teams stuff doesn’t come between our friendship.'”
