Three questions for Texas specialists ahead of preseason camp

The 2022 Texas specialist quartet of placekicker Bert Auburn, kickoff specialist Will Stone, long snapper Lance St. Louis, and punter Daniel Trejo helped the Longhorns post solid marks in the third phase of the game. Three of those four return, with Stanford transfer Ryan Sanborn replacing Trejo at punter.

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Special teams coordinator Jeff Banks and new special assistant to the head coach Joe DeCamillis have fielded their fair share of strong units over the years and are likely to get most of the kudos for how that aspect of the game fares, but special teams analyst Jeff Crosby will have a key role in helping Auburn, Stone, St. Louis, and Sanborn have a successful 2023.

What do the Longhorn specialists have to do to make sure they keep the strong special teams play going? Here are a few things they have to answer.

Does Ryan Sanborn provide plus directional punting?

Aussie Isaac Pearson started as the Texas punter in 2022, but his early-season performances resulted in Trejo taking over at the position. Trejo, a transfer from Texas Wesleyan, punted 45 times for 1890 yards (42.0 average) with three touchbacks, 15 fair catches, and 13 inside the 20.

Only 10 of his punts were over 50 yards. While accurate he wasn’t a value add or a value loss for Texas specialists.

Sanborn only had nine punts go over 50 yards, but he had 18 inside the 20 and 22 fair caught on an average of 41.7 yards. That’s a pretty similar stat line, but the hope is Sanborn can offer directional punting ability that Trejo lacked.

Coaches often say possessions need to end with a kick. What that means is every chance with the ball should end either a field goal, an extra point, or a punt. When Texas punts, it wants to create long fields for opponents, and those are created through accurate punts which are difficult to return. If Sanborn can do that despite not having a huge leg, gaining his commitment out of the portal will prove to be a plus.

What do they want to do with Will Stone?

Will Stone has the capability to boot the ball out of the end zone and give opponents the ball on the 25, but Banks often has Stone strategically add more loft and reduce distance to entice opponents to return kicks despite the game’s current fair catch rules.

Can Stone add more hangtime with the wanted distance? If so, he may not have the gaudy kick-off statistics (touchbacks!) but he’ll start plays the way Banks wants him to for an effective coverage unit. It may not mean much and opponents could just take the ball at the 25, but he’ll at least give Texas the ability to cover kicks the way it wants.

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Next steps for Bert Auburn and Lance St. Louis?

Back in April, Steve Sarkisian had this to say about St. Louis and Auburn, who was 21-of-26 on field goals and a perfect 55-of-55 on PATs.

“Bert Auburn kicked field goals for us a year ago and made some really big kicks,” Sarkisian said. “I’m going to name two. We take a bad sack against Alabama at the end of the game and he hits from 49 with a minute left to give us the lead, which was a critical kick. We had 16 seconds to run two plays to get those completions done, and he kicks a field goal from 40-something yards to tie the game at Tech. I know he’s a big game kicker. He missed a couple that I would like to have back, but I didn’t think our battery was very good — snap, hold — before the kick. There’s some things to clean up there.”

Steve Sarkisian

Part of that will include breaking in a new holder since Hudson Card is now at Purdue. It will also include continued accuracy from Auburn and crisper snaps from St. Louis, who despite Sarkisian’s complaints turned in a quality campaign for a freshman.

If Texas “cleans up” what Sarkisian was talking about, Texas can aim higher than 80.8 % accuracy.