Pete Lembo updates bevy of special teams competitions
Replacing the all-time leading scorer at South Carolina was always going to be tough, but special teams coordinator Pete Lembo likes where things stand right now.
The Gamecocks are in the heat of a placekicker battle between Mitch Jeter and Alex Herrera with both showing flashes two weeks into the preseason.
“Mitch Jeter is a little bit ahead in terms of percentage of kicks made and so forth. He and Alex have been dueling back and forth,” Lembo said. “Alex had a bit of a slower start in the first few practices. If you look at the last several practices he’s made a number of pressure kicks. The good news there is they’re both doing well.”
Jeter seemed like the likely favorite entering camp, having a tinge more experience after two seasons with the program.
He handled the majority kickoff duties the previous two years but hasn’t attempted a field goal yet. He is 2-for-2 on extra points in his career.
Herrera appeared in four games last year and kicked off against East Carolina, Troy, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M last season.
The good news for Lembo is he sees the competition going much longer into South Carolina’s preseason. That gives either player more chances to separate themselves.
“We’re not in a rush to make a final decision. We’ve been doing field goal in pretty much every single practice,” Lembo said.
“We’ve been putting them in pressure situations, whether that’s at the end of practices or scrimmages. We’ll continue to chart those reps. With a little over two weeks to go, we’ll make a decision closer to game day.”
The Gamecocks also have questions at punter at the moment with Kai Kroeger still nursing a foot injury.
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Lembo said he’s “not sure” where Kroeger will be the week of the opener but did say he likes where the punter position sits right now.
“Alex Herrera’s been our backup punter going back to last year and has been solid in the preseason. William Joyce is much-improved, dramatically improved since last year…Mitch Jeter has been taking reps,” Lembo said.
“Mitch is a very good athlete, a very good rugby punter. We have a lot of options from a punting standpoint. I like that going into the first game. It’s a little bit of mystery, a little bot of international intrigue is not a bad thing going into the first game.”
Kroeger also held for South Carolina on field goal team, something the Gamecocks need to find someone to fill in until Kroeger’s returns.
“William’s done a really nice job. Hunter Rogers holds as well. There’s been a nice competition going on with those two guys,” Lembo said. “I would anticipate Kai would be ready to go soon doing that as well. But you always want to make sure you have depth and the next man can step in and get that done.”
The Gamecocks competition will continue through the next few weeks as kickoff approaches.
South Carolina finished its final scrimmage this preseason, on Saturday, two weeks before the season starts.
“The statistics and data are part of it,” Lembo said. “But the next thing is when and where were those kicks made? Were they the ones you can envision being made when we need them to win games in this league?”
