This is Brant Boyer's first season as a lead special-teams coordinator, so there's no guarantee he will be the savior of the New York Jets' sorry special teams. But this much appears certain: He will try to change the culture.

"Part of my philosophy is 500 miles per hour all the time," Boyer said last week in his first interview since being hired away from the Indianapolis Colts in February. "We're going to play snap to whistle and we're going to punch first. That's how I'm going to coach."

Boyer brings intensity to the job, and you can see it -- and hear it -- on the practice field. When he spotted a few young players jogging on the kickoff unit in practice on Wednesday, he made sure they heard about it.

Attitude is such an important part of special teams. You need selfless players willing to turn their bodies into heat-seeking missiles for the good of the team. You need a unit that plays with pride and establishes an identity. Years ago, the Jets had that mentality, but they've been mediocre (at best) since 2012, falling to the bottom of the rankings last season.

Boyer is their fifth special-teams coordinator in five years. His predecessor, Bobby April, 63, near the end of a distinguished career, was an upbeat coach with a grandfatherly demeanor. He was fired after only one season. Boyer, 44, is young and fiery, a former NFL player who has captured the attention of the locker room.

A few takeaways from Boyer's first session with the media:

• He believes the most revealing statistic for special-teams efficiency is average drive start, which illustrates whether a team is winning the field-position battle. Based on that, the Jets weren't so bad last season. Their offense ranked ninth (29.2 yard line) and their defense was 19th (27.8). Hard to believe, right?

• Boyer is looking for a few good men to help instill "attitude and pride" in the unit. He identified three such players, calling them his "Energizer bunnies" -- Erin Henderson, Rontez Miles and Trevor Reilly.

• He's not a huge fan of the rules that limit contact. "We can't practice in pads," he said. "Even when we do put on pads, you can't have 'em just yard-sale into each other and get people hurt. I mean, it's a joke, so ... especially with the new rules right now, we can't hardly touch each other."

• He's high on rookie punter Lachlan Edwards, a seventh-round pick. "He was one of my favorites in the draft," Boyer said. "He has a big leg and a lot of talent." Edwards is competing against fellow Aussie Tom Hackett, an undrafted rookie, for the punting job.

• Boyer, who spent four seasons as the Colts' assistant special-teams coordinator, spoke glowingly of Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, 43, a potential Hall of Famer. "His body maintenance is unbelievable," Boyer said. "I don't know if I've ever seen a guy get that many massages, knowing when to kick, knowing when not to kick, getting acupuncture, flying people in to take care of him, watching his diet, knowing exactly what to lift and what not to lift." Boyer hopes to impart some of Vinatieri's longevity secrets to Jets kicker Nick Folk.