Pete Lembo previews Notre Dame's special teams unit ahead of bowl matchup

South Carolina has been at the top of the college football mountain this year when it comes to special teams. Pete Lembo’s unit has garnered national attention and accolades, and rightfully so.

The Gamecocks haven’t had much competition on special teams this year, but their matchup with Notre Dame during the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl may bring that.

Head coach Marcus Freeman and special teams coordinator Brian Mason have the Fighting Irish right behind South Carolina in several statistical categories.

“This is an outstanding special teams unit,” Lembo said. “When you look at the team in general, they are a very big, physical, rugged, hard-playing team. And that is very much reflected on their special teams units.”

Notre Dame is tied for first in the country with seven blocked punts. For comparison, South Carolina is tied for third with six.

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Both teams have top-10 Pro Football Focus grades for special teams. South Carolina is No. 3 with a 90 and Notre Dame is No. 7 with an 88.

“They strain in coverage. They strain to block field goals. They strain to block punts,” Lembo said. “They create some really challenging matchups for you with their physicality, their effort, their length.”

Lembo gave Notre Dame’s coaching staff credit for the improved special teams play from last year. Last year the Fighting Irish’s special teams unit was ranked No. 9 according to PFF – although that isn’t an insane jump, they did only manage to block one punt last year.

“This is a new coaching staff who has put a great emphasis on physical play and carrying over that physical play to special teams,” Lembo said. “They have sort of skyrocketed in one year to a top 10 special teams unit in all the different analytics rankings. So, I certainly have a ton of respect for what they do and how they do it and how hard they play.”

In true Lembo fashion – he compared the number of blocked punts Notre Dame has to the number of girlfriends Jerry Seinfield had on his TV show.

“Every episode they’ve got a new blocked punt just like Jerry had a new girlfriend,” Lembo said. “So we got our hands full there.”

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While Notre Dame boasts a leading punt defense, they also boast an impressive punt return team.

Safety Brandon Joseph has taken the bulk of the load on punt return for the Fighting Irish, returning 18 kicks for 179 yards. Notre Dame as a whole is No. 7 in the country for the total punt return yardage (279 yards). That being said, it does fall just outside the top 25 for average punt return yardage with just over 10 yards per return.

“They’ve got a good returner, a bigger guy back there, who can make you miss and break tackles,” Lembo said.

Much like their kick returners, Lembo said Notre Dame also has “very good” specialists.

“They hit a lot of touchbacks, so there’s not many kickoff return opportunities,” Lembo said. “If there is one, when there is one, you gotta be really, really sound, fundamentally, to block them up.”

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Freshman Zac Yoakam has been the Fighting Irish’ main placekicker this season. He averages 62.49 yards per kickoff and has amassed 40 touchbacks for a 61 percent touchback rate.

South Carolina made it to Jacksonville on Christmas evening and started practice there Monday morning. With the bowl game just days away Lembo knows the special teams matchup with Notre Dame will be big.

“So this is a big challenge for our entire football team – but especially from the special teams standpoint,” Lembo said. “I’m glad we got a little bit more time to get ready.”

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