Projecting South Carolina football’s specialists ahead of fall camp

South Carolina has plenty of holes to plug in 2021.

The Gamecocks lose a handful of starters in a new-look secondary. Luke Doty is slated to take over the reins under center in his first full year as QB1. It’s also still anyone’s guess as to who emerges at receiver.

But for what needs the Gamecocks might have, South Carolina should be as sound on special teams as any team in the Southeastern Conference this fall.

Head coach Shane Beamer notched an early win in hiring special teams ace Pete Lembo as his coordinator for that unit in January. Lembo arrives in Columbia with a long resume in college football — including a largely successful run as the head coach at Ball State from 2011 to 2015 and spells at Elon and Lehigh before that.

Lembo most recently served as the special teams coordinator and associate head coach at Memphis during the 2020 season. He also worked in the same roles at Rice the season before and at Maryland in 2016 and 2017.

“Something from the very first meeting that I share with our specialists is, I am going to coach you and approach every day no different than if this was the tight ends, or if this was the linebackers or any other position that I was assigned to coach on the team,” Lembo told The State last week. “It’s important to me that you are invested and that your teammates see that you’re not just a specialist, you’re a great teammate first and foremost.”

USC specialists: What we know

Heading into Year 1 with his unit, Lembo inherits a pair of experienced returning starters.

Parker White is entering his fifth year as the starting kicker in Columbia and is just 70 points from the career scoring record. White finished the 2021 season 11 of 15 on kicks inside of 50 yards and 26 of 27 on extra point chances.

The Mount Pleasant native also handled kickoff duties for the Gamecocks toward the end of last fall. White averaged 55.6 yards per kickoff in 2021, though it’s unclear whether he’ll handle those responsibilities again.

Alongside White is sophomore punter Kai Kroeger. A Lake Forest, Illinois product, coaches selected Kroeger as a member of the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team a season ago. His 43.3 yards per punt average was good for sixth in the SEC last year.

USC specialists: What we don’t know

As it stands, Kroeger is technically the only punter on the roster. The Gamecocks also have kickers Alex Herrera, Cole Hanna and Mitch Jeter listed on the current roster.

Jeter handled kickoff duties for the bulk of last season, before White took over, and should compete to do so again this fall. He’s also the most likely candidate to fill in as the No. 2 kicker on the depth chart.

“One of the things I like to say is at the end of the day, we’re all in customer service,” Lembo said. “And it’s a mindset. It’s (being) philanthropic, give back, be committed, play for name on the front of the jerseys first. And I’m really pleased how those guys have committed to that.”

Specialist depth chart

——Kicker——

Starter: Parker White

Backup: Mitch Jeter

——Punter——

Starter: Kai Kroeger

Backup: TBD