After one interaction, you can already tell Denver Broncos special teams coordinator Brock Olivo is a passionate guy. He’s passionate about his wife’s lasagna. He’s passionate about football. He’s passionate about special teams. He wants to instill that passion in his players.

“It is the third phase,” Olivo said after being introduced on Tuesday. “People talk about it being 1/3rd of the game. We’re going to get 25-35 snaps, so is it really a third of the game? No. But you’ve got to take that approach.

“I sold it to my teammates and I sold it to my players like this: ‘Look man, how cool is it, when everyone else is shunning special teams, putting it on the backburner, how cool are you if you’re different and you make it a priority?’”

It is definitely a priority for Olivo. A four-year starter as a running back at the University of Missouri, he graduated as the school’s all-time leader in rushing yards and touchdowns. He didn’t have to play special teams, he didn’t ask to, he demanded to.

“Midway through my sophomore season, I said ‘you know what? I’m watching special teams on Saturdays and we don’t have our 11 best guys on the field,'” he explained. “So, I went to our head coach, it was Larry Smith at the time, I said ‘look coach, I’m going to get on special teams and, oh yeah, I’m bringing these guys with me.’”

Olivo was the first person to ever be awarded the Mosi Tatupu Award as the special teams player of the year in college football. Not only that, his charisma is infectious. But as a first-time head coach, what will his philosophy be?

“We’re going to be simple, we’re going to play fast, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to K.I.L.L. it,” he said. “That’s a great acronym. K.I.L.L. it: keep it likable and learnable; and we’re going to turn our guys loose. Our motto is going to be ‘cut loose and have fun.”’

What Olivo lacks in experience, he makes up for with his attitude. With the support of head coach Vance Joseph, he knows, under his guidance, the special teamers can impact games for the Broncos.

“One of the reasons I’m so fortunate to be here is because Vance Joseph understands the importance of special teams,” he said. “He understands the one-down philosophy. That is that special teams can swing the course of a game and can win games in this league.

“My goals are going to be, I’ve got to give Joe [Woods] and I’ve got to give Mike [McCoy] the best field position possible; and that’s how we’re going to roll here.”