Jay Boulware - Special Teams Coordinator, Running Backs - Football Coaches

Jay Boulware

Title:
Special Teams Coordinator, Running Backs

• Wrapped up fourth year coaching Oklahoma running backs in 2018 and sixth as special teams coordinator. OU’s special teams have produced nine TDs, a safety and three returned two-point PATs under his direction.

• Has produced five 1,000-yard rushers the last four years and four of his running backs during that time have earned first- or second-team All-Big 12 honors. Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine and Rodney Anderson have all been NFL Draft picks since 2017.

• Presided over a 2018 running backs group that helped OU lead the nation in yards per carry (6.6). Redshirt freshman Kennedy Brooks ranked third nationally with 8.9 yards per rush (minimum 9.0 carries per game) and was a USA Today Freshman All-American (1,056 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns), and Trey Sermon ran for 947 yards and 13 TDs.

• Kicker/punter Austin Seibert, who in 2018 was named OU’s first-ever Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year, finished his career as the all-time FBS scoring leader among kickers (his 499 points set school and Big 12 records).

• Key part of offensive staff that saw the 2017 Sooners rank first nationally in yards per game (579.6) and third in scoring (45.1 ppg). OU also led the Big 12 with its 217.8 rushing yards per contest. Including OU’s Oct. 14 win over Texas, RB Rodney Anderson ranked second nationally (first among Power 5 players) the rest of the season in yards from scrimmage per game (153.4) and touchdowns from scrimmage (17).

• Oversaw one of the nation’s top running back tandems in 2015 and 2016. Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon both declared for the 2017 NFL Draft after stellar careers. Perine, OU’s all-time rushing leader (4,122 yards), ran for 2,409 yards and 28 TDs after Boulware moved to running backs coach, while Mixon ran for 2,027 yards and 17 TDs his last two years. Mixon also caught 65 passes for 894 yards and nine TDs.

• His 2015 punt unit led the nation by allowing just 1.09 yards per return (12 yards on 11 returns). Austin Seibert was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist.

• Served as tight ends coach for OU in 2013-14, helping former quarterback Blake Bell become a fourth-round draft pick as a tight end, a position he had never played prior to 2014. Fullbacks Trey Millard and Aaron Ripkowski were eventual NFL Draft picks.

• Mentored RB Alex Ross, who finished third in the nation on kickoff return yards (31.2 average) in 2014 and tied for second among FBS players with two kickoff return touchdowns.

• K Michael Hunnicutt concluded his career under Boulware as the all-time leading scorer in OU history (450 points), a figure that ranked sixth in FBS annals. Hunnicutt made a Big 12-record 75 career field goals and set an OU single-season record with 24 made FGs in 2013.

• The Sooners registered three special teams TDs in 2013, including one on a fake field goal in a 33-24 win at Oklahoma State (12/7/13).

• WR Jalen Saunders ranked ninth in the FBS with a 15.4-yard punt return average in 2013. OU led the Big 12 and was eighth in the FBS with a 14.2 average, thanks to two punt return TDs.

• At Auburn, was part of Gene Chizik’s staff that inherited a team coming off a 5-7 record in 2008. Two seasons later, the Tigers posted a 14-0 record and a win over Oregon in the BCS Championship Game.

• TE Philip Lutzenkirchen was a second-team All-SEC pick in 2011. His 14 career TD catches set an Auburn tight end record.

• The Auburn punt coverage unit ranked second in the nation in 2012, permitting four punt return yards on 70 punts, while his kickoff coverage squad was third nationally (16.6-yard average).

• Kicker Wes Byrum set an Auburn single-season record with 123 points in 2010, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. • In 2010, Auburn led the SEC and ranked ninth in the nation in punt coverage, allowing 4.6 yards per return. The Tigers also ranked 16th in the nation, permitting 19.7 yards per kickoff return.

• In 2009, Byrum set a single-season school records for field goal percentage (93.8; 15 of 16) and PAT conversions and attempts (54).

• In 2009, guided RB Demond Washington to an Auburn single-season record with a 31.1-yard kickoff return average.

• Iowa State’s Leonard Johnson set an FBS single-game record with 319 kickoff return yards vs. Oklahoma State in 2008.

• At Stanford, was part of the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship Program, working with the 49ers in the summer of 2004.

• Mentored All-Pac-10 RB Mike Bell, who finished his career with 3,163 rushing yards, the third-highest total in Arizona history.

• One of his Northern Illinois star pupils was offensive lineman Ryan Diem, who went on to an 11-year NFL career with Indianapolis.

• In 2000, Northern Illinois ranked 12th in the nation in rushing (228.1 ypg) and 17th in total offense (427.8 ypg).

Accomplishments as a Player

• Served as a reserve offensive lineman for two seasons at Texas. Was slated to enter the starting lineup for the Longhorns in 1993 before a cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis ended his playing career.