Tiger Special Teams Looking to Move Forward With New Faces

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Special teams S&P+ dipped from 0.2 to a -0.3 from 2016 to the 2017 season — although it’s clear in reading Bill C’s stat profiles that the major culprit being a serious drop in field goal value. The Tigers made just 16 of 27 kick attempts and missed three extra points, rotating between Connor Culp — who did, to be fair, make some huge kicks against Auburn — and Jack Gonsoulin.

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I feel a little weird about listing a newcomer here, but when asking around the program, the graduate transfer from the Northeast is the one constant. There’s a lot of confidence in his ability to step in and be the consistent field-goal kicker that LSU didn’t have here.

And given that LSU was, essentially, three missed kicks (all inside of 40 yards) from an 11-2 record last year, that value could be a pretty significant difference in 2018.

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Projected Starting Lineup: Graduate transfer Cole Tracy was something of a controversial take in the 2018 recruiting class, but he’s expected to take over place-kicking duties. Walk-on Avery Atkins, a McMahon recruit, may handle kickoffs. Growden and Von Rosenberg will continue to tag-team the punting.

Returns are still up for grabs a bit, but Clyde Edwards-Helaire is expected to be the lead kickoff returner again. Jonathan Giles — lauded for sure hands and good judgment in the spring — could handle punt returns. But that could continue to evolve through training camp and scrimmages. Other players that could get into the mix include Ja’Marr Chase, Kelvin Joseph, Kary Vincent, Derrick Dillon or Tae Provens

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