One of the very first things Mike Norvell mentioned in his opening press conference as Florida State head coach was how important special teams are to him.

He doesn't want to just be average in that area. Or decent. Or pretty good.

He wants to be great.

It was a hallmark of his teams at Memphis, and he expects to enjoy the same type of success at Florida State.

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John Papuchis is the assistant coach who has been tasked with coordinating that effort. And he clearly understands Norvell’s vision.

"Our mindset is we want to be able to make game-changing plays on special teams," he said. "I think we'll have the ability to do that."

This is Papuchis' third stop as a special-teams coach. He was the coordinator at Nebraska in 2011 and also at Maryland in 2019. He was also a defensive coordinator at both Nebraska and North Carolina.

At Florida State, the Virginia Tech grad will also be coaching defensive ends. But the way he and Norvell talk about special teams -- that will definitely be a top priority.

"A lot of times, the way you play special teams is really a great reflection on what your team is," Papuchis said. "The one thing about special teams, other than the specialists, is that none of the players were recruited to the school to do that. So it's kind of their way of giving back to the team. You need a bunch of selfless players that are focused on that aspect of the game."

Papuchis’ Maryland unit ranked 11th in the country in 2019 in special-teams efficiency, according to ESPN. The Terrapins' return man, Javon Leake, had two kickoff returns for touchdowns, and Maryland was also 11th in the county in punt return average and 17th in the country in punt return defense.