Florida Football: Joe Houston is a great hire that still leaves a lingering question

If you want to trigger a Florida football fan, just mention special teams and/or Chris Couch and watch their blood boil. And as the offseason has progressed, the chances of grand changes to special teams for the Gators looked bleak.

But as has been the case for Billy Napier, he made a stealthy hire over the weekend that on paper is a fantastic hire while also leaving the door open for some follow up questions.

Florida Football: The Third Unit

It was reported by Jacob Rudner of Swamp 247 that Florida was going to hire Joe Houston from the New England Patriots to come in and work with Florida's special teams.

On paper, the move is a good one, as Houston was a former kicker for USC and has spent time in the college ranks as the special teams coach at Iowa State. Having a former college kicker on staff is something that should help Trey Smack and Jeremy Crawshaw.

But ignoring the fact that Couch is also set to remain on staff, Houston is also expected to be in an analyst role and not one of the ten on field assistants that a team gets.

One of the questions we have raised time and again here at Hail Florida Hail is whether or not the flaws of the special teams over the last two seasons are because of Couch himself or because he is limited in what he is allowed to do because he is an analyst.

Houston could be a kicking savant, but if he too is an analyst does it fix problems such as knowing when to run onto the field for a game winning field goal against Arkansas?

We love the hire and think Smack and Crawshaw will benefit. We also just want to know if game day procedure issues can be fixed by an analyst.