Pete Lembo addresses South Carolina's plan for punt returns

Going into the 2023 season, South Carolina needs to find a punt returner to replace Josh Vann. The task of finding that returner is going to come back to special teams coach Pete Lembo.

Players like Eddie Lewis and Ahmarean Brown got plenty of work as punt returners in the Spring. However, they’re not alone as Lembo is excited about the team’s depth at this position.

“Absolutely, and Jalon Kilgore has shown that he’s very natural with it as well,” Pete Lembo said. “And he’s just a freshman but he’s very comfortable back there and he’s certainly going to get reps during this preseason.”

Together, these options create exciting depth at the punt returner position for Lembo and the Gamecocks.

“Well, the good news is that Ahmarean Brown has played some for us in games before, including the bowl game. Eddie Lewis played extensively at Memphis and had a lot of success as a punt returner there. Then, Jalon Kilgore, who’s a freshman, who, fortunately, was able to enroll early, we got a chance to evaluate him in the Spring,” Lembo said.

“And so, right now, those three guys, among others who can do it, like for example Juju McDowell can move over from kick returner and catch punts as well, but at least we have some depth. We probably have better depth at punt returner than we do at kick returner, and more work to do at kick returner to develop our depth.”

Brown has returned 17 punts in his career, mostly while he was at Georgia Tech. Lewis, meanwhile, has 28 returns, including 27 in 2022 while he was with Memphis. He even broke one for a touchdown. So, this is a unit with experience as well as depth.

“At punt returner, we need to figure out who our starter is going to be, and so we’ll have plenty of time this preseason to critique those guys and coach those guys and prepare those guys and figure out who gives us the best chance to be successful.”

Kai Kroeger shared what Pete Lembo means to him

South Carolina punter Kai Kreoger is one of the best at his position in all of college football. He also knows that Pete Lembo, one of the game’s best special teams coordinators, is a key reason why he’s been so successful.

“He brings a new energy new or different energy every day to the building. Whether it’s his World War II references, historic, somehow he manages to slip them into every meeting,” Kroeger said.

“I think it’s honestly how much time he puts into it, how much he cares about it. I’ve been around a lot of people that have pushed special teams to the side, whether it was high school or my first year in college, maybe it wasn’t as much of a focus. It gives us a lot of confidence that we know our coaches care that much. We also see how much he does. He’s in the building probably more than anybody almost. He’s scheming up something, asking us what we think about something. So we love that.”