STANFORD, Calif. — The 2026 spring practice sessions have reached a midpoint, with two weeks down and two weeks remaining. For our second weekly recap of Stanford football, we kicked it with the specialists, focusing on the ever-important special teams phase of the game.
The new special teams coordinator in 2026 is Nate Kaczor, who arrives on The Farm with a wealth of NFL experience and recent Power Four experience at Kansas State (2024-25). When Tavita Pritchard joined the Washington Commanders in 2023, Kaczor was in his final season as special teams coordinator.
“Coach Kaczor is a treasure trove of football knowledge, experience, and aptitude,” Pritchard said at the time of Kaczor’s arrival at Stanford. He also praised Kaczor’s ability to connect with people and build trust, making him an elite football teacher.
Those statements seemed validated by Kaczor after a conversation with him during the Cardinal’s second week of spring practice. It doesn’t take long to feel the knowledge he brings to that phase of the ball, making you feel like you’re an intimate part of the special teams unit.
“It’s been great having Coach Kaczor come in, especially with his wealth of NFL experience,” said veteran kicker Emmet Kenney. “The biggest thing we’ve tried to take from him is that he’s shown us what it’s like to be an NFL-level specialist in the way you need to train and go about your business the right way.”
The specialists are chock-full of returners, giving Stanford a leg up in that phase. Leading the way is Kenney, who will be in year six, and soon-to-be senior punter Aidan Flintoft. Starting long snapper Peyton Warford returns, as does fellow snapper Alejandro Chavez.
When you include kicker AJ Seidler, that means five of the six specialists on Stanford’s roster are upperclassmen, with only Londan Bironas (will be a redshirt freshman) as an underclassman. That experience matters, says Kenney, and even more so in their positions.
“We must be one of the oldest special teams units in the country,” Kenney said with a laugh. “With the position that we play and the mental load that it entails, it’s big to have a bunch of guys who are familiar with the different sites and sounds of college football. That’s a weapon for us.”
“The learning curve of actually playing in a game and getting to the point where you are comfortable in games, we don’t have to cover as much ground with that learning curve,” Kaczor explained about the group’s overall experience. “So that’s definitely a plus. We’re always going to be trying to get better, regardless of how experienced they are.”
Not only have they been around the program for a while, but they also have gelled into one of the closest groups on the team. They’ve been through a lot of change in the program together, and that’s helped bring them closer.
“Camaraderie is super important. These are the guys you hang out with all the time, and with our operations, it’s either two or three of us, and if you don’t know each other in the operation or know each other’s rhythm, it’s not going to work,” said Chavez. “We’re a pretty tight-knit specialist group, and I know we are going to have a lot of good things coming this year.”
Kenney is no stranger to making kicks in the clutch. As a senior, Kenney nailed a pair of game-winning field goals as time expired. The first was Stanford’s first-ever ACC win, coming on the road at Syracuse, and the second secured a Stanford upset win over then-No. 19 Louisville in Stanford’s final home game. His return and experience in the clutch are assets for Stanford in 2026.
Flintoft will flip the field and has continuously done so throughout his Cardinal career. He actively ranks second in program history in punting average (43.02), trailing only current Atlanta Falcons punter Jake Bailey. He also has a chance to pass Bailey in both total career punts and punt yardage.
A lot of his growth at the position started last year under interim head coach Frank Reich, who took over and helped lead Stanford to its most wins since 2020.
“Last year, Coach Reich talked about how the next rep is the most important rep. That mentality is so important, to remain steady like that,” Flintoft mentioned. “I try to apply that with punting, holding, and in everything.”
Building off that, in 2026, Flintoft has found that working with Coach Kaczor has provided a fresh perspective on the right mindset when you are between the white lines. It’s something that Kaczor says he already knew about Stanford players before his arrival this season.
“These guys really are hungry to learn, and they work extremely hard. In terms of that, I want them to learn how to channel that and enjoy competing, and kind of free their minds up a little bit when we can. So it’s a really good balance of working and a hunger to be really good,” explained Kaczor.
How have the specialists gotten better through two weeks of spring practice? It sounds simple, and it sounds similar to what other position groups work on this time of year.
“We’ve been looking at the process,” explained Warford. “We have the scope of our opener against Hawai’i being pretty far away, so what can we do today to get better? We’ve already made some really big strides since the first practice, just getting our consistency down, since we haven’t all been out here together in a while.”
Going a step further, Coach Kaczor said that the foundation must be built before anything else can take place. That comes from rigorous work put in via technique.
“Technique really enhances assignments,” Kaczor said. “The schemes are going in, but we’re taking some good time with our technique and building that foundation before we put a bunch of schemes in, because how you do your technique, regardless of this game, is going to make us better.”
Coach Pritchard has preached often about Stanford needing to be strong in all three phases of the game to get to where they want to be. The special teams group is off to a good start this spring, and should provide a wealth of value to Stanford in the 2026 season.