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Ricky Brumfield starts every special teams meeting with a football in his hands. He scans the room before eventually tossing it to someone.

Whoever catches it has to stand up and recite a specific creed. Brumfield made everyone memorize it after introducing it on the first day of training camp. The creed is only a few sentences, but it’s a crucial aspect of his philosophy.

Mess up a word and you embarrass yourself in front of your peers. And Brumfield.

“If you can’t say the creed, then I can’t trust you out on the football field,” Brumfield said. “We have to be able to have trust, so those are some of the words that’s in the creed … you have to know the creed to be able to play.”

Brumfield is tasked with fixing Syracuse’s special teams unit after the group unraveled under James Vollono last season. Missed field goals, blocked punts and poor execution were common occurrences. The sloppy operation led to SU and Vollono parting ways. In came Brumfield, who suffered the same fate at Georgia Tech.

However, through five games, he’s brought stability to the group. Iowa transfer Tripp Woody is 6-for-7 on field goals, Jack Stonehouse is averaging 49.1 yards per punt — without getting one blocked — and Syracuse’s special teams are operating smoothly.

“You can tell the difference of care between last year’s special teams and this year’s special teams,” SU cornerback and punt returner Davien Kerr said.

Brumfield’s main goal when arriving at Syracuse was to bring more cohesion into its speciality group. The creed was part of that tactic. Brumfield asked for a volunteer to memorize the words after it was introduced, and Stonehouse obliged.

He read it over in his mind for five hours straight, not wanting to fail Brumfield’s first test.

“He just doesn’t let little things slide,” Stonehouse said. “When you demand that respect, it’s easier to go out to practice and tell guys where they need to be and (players) say, ‘Coach, I got you.’”

Everything starts with Brumfield’s energy. Tight end David Clement said Brumfield runs across the front of the room to start team meetings, which initially caught him off guard. Clement added Brumfield says if he’s not bringing the energy, he’s not ready to coach.

“He wants us to really care about special teams and bring the energy to the field and just make sure everybody on the team knows that this is something you can’t take a break on,” Clement said.

Brumfield’s vigor comes from his name being attached to special teams. He said he’s “going to give everything that I got to make sure that it’s a positive representation of me.”

Zoey Grimes | Design Editor

Brumfield associated that mentality with getting players to buy in. He shows clips of former Syracuse standouts like Zaire Franklin and Sean Tucker making plays on special teams in the National Football League to show what it takes to reach the next level.

“We talk to them about, ‘This is their salary (in the NFL). This is what they did when they sat in your seats,’” Brumfield said. “They were on special teams. And they’re playing special teams in the NFL, and that’s how they stayed there.”

To start his coaching career, Brumfield spent over a decade with various NFL organizations through the Minority Coaching Fellowship program. While with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he learned from head coach Mike Tomlin to always stay driven. Tomlin used to say, “You can be fed if you’re hungry,” but when you’re driven, “you can’t be stopped.”

So after getting let go by Georgia Tech in October, Brumfield arrived at Syracuse with a chip on his shoulder. His abrupt dismissal came less than two months after 247Sports’ Chris Hummer reported Brumfield got a contract extension, which made him one of the highest-paid special teams coordinators in the country.

“That’s something we just want to move on (from),” Brumfield said of his departure from GT on April 15. “It’s 2025. I’m happy to be here. What happened in 2023 and 2024, I don’t even remember. All I can remember is the players we have now and who I’m coaching for.”

The Syracuse opening was a perfect chance for Brumfield to regain his footing. Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner knew Fran Brown, while defensive coordinator Blake Gideon knew SU defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson. Both reached out to recommend Brumfield for the opening.

Brown wanted someone who could recruit and control a room, per Brumfield. As someone with over two decades of collegiate coaching experience, Brumfield felt he’d be a good fit. On top of his time at Georgia Tech, Brumfield was also Virginia’s special teams coordinator from 2018-2021, giving him experience in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Syracuse needed someone like Brumfield. Special teams blunders nearly cost the Orange multiple games last year. In SU’s 44-41 overtime win over UNLV on Oct. 4, 2024, Stonehouse was tackled before getting a punt off. He also had another one blocked, leading to a touchdown. On Sept. 7, 2024, versus Brumfield’s Yellow Jackets, SU failed to recover an onside kick and had a field goal blocked.

The Orange also cycled through kickers, with Jackson Kennedy, Jadyn Oh and Brady Denaburg combining to go 13-for-22 with no makes over 44 yards.

Stonehouse and Clement didn’t want to delve into the reasons for last season’s mistakes, while Derek McDonald feels SU “wasn’t detailed enough.” Brumfield wanted to change that.

After every practice, Brumfield goes right to his office and watches over film, recording voice-overs that critique each player. Brumfield suggests improvements, whether it’s a missed blocking assignment or a poor angle on a tackle.

“He’s the all-knowing voice,” Stonehouse said.

Ricky Brumfield speaks with assistant coach Devin Redd during SU’s game vs. Duke. In Brumfield’s first year leading the Orange’s special teams unit, kicker Tripp Woody and punter Jack Stonehouse have excelled. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor

Through five games, Syracuse’s special teams are improving. Woody — who beat out Oh in a kicking competition this summer — knocked through a 49-yarder against Clemson, SU’s longest made field goal since 2022.

Oh handles kickoff duties, recording touchbacks on 80% of his kicks so far. Stonehouse’s 88 grade on Pro Football Focus is by far the best mark of any punter in the ACC. The next closest is NC State’s Caden Noonkester at 76.2. Overall, SU’s special teams is graded at 74.4, improving from 63.6 in 2024, which was the lowest rating in the conference.

The group is even helping Syracuse turn the tide of games. In Death Valley, Oh pulled off a surprise onside kick after SU’s opening drive touchdown.

Each week, Brumfield discusses ways to steal possessions with Brown, who sits in on every special teams gathering. Heading into Clemson’s hostile road environment, Brumfield knew he had the onside kick at his disposal. He just needed to wait for the right time, which came in the first quarter. The extra possession helped Syracuse gain a double-digit lead, which it kept for the rest of the game.

“It’s the heartbeat of our team,” Brown said of SU’s special teams on Sept. 9. “Everybody’s involved. Every coach is involved … we’re in the process of making this thing be a well-oiled machine the right way, so there’s a lot of things we have to keep getting better.”

Syracuse’s first special teams blunder came last weekend against Duke, when Jaden Hart bobbled the opening kickoff at the goal line. Unaware if taking a knee would cause a safety, Hart ran the ball out from the end zone, gaining just 11 yards. Later in the first quarter, the running back had a 13-yard return.

When asked about the mistake on Monday, Brown spread both his arms, forming a “T-Shape,” a sign for allowing the ball to go into the end zone. Brown said the miscue was a “lack of coaching on my part” and said the off-returner will communicate to his partner on whether to bring the ball out.

Brumfield mentioned special teams as “one play for a large chunk of land,” and if executed right, can swing games. That requires attention to detail, much like one of Brumfield’s favorite non-football hobbies: cooking a Louisiana crawfish boil.

Growing up in New Orleans, Brumfield always enjoyed eating crawfish. While at Virginia, Brumfield missed the southern soul food, so he found “Louisiana Crawfish Company,” which ships live crawfish to your front door.

He watched YouTube videos on how to perfect the craft, from steaming the fish to inserting the potatoes and sausage, while finding the right mix of seasoning. The whole process takes about two hours to complete. In June, he invited all the specialists and players from Louisiana to his house for a crawfish dinner.

Though they’re two vastly different practices, Brumfield feels some principles apply to crafting a crawfish bowl and coaching.

“You need patience and studying the right technique and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work,” Brumfield said. “The same thing with football. Some of it is trial and error, like, let’s see what works best for our program. What works best for what we’re trying to do.”

Right now, Brumfield’s trying to come up with the right ingredients to keep his special teams unit cooking.

Published on October 1, 2025 at 9:35 pm
Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22