Special Teams
Special teams is probably the most underrated area of the team. It can win games with one kick, or lose games with one long return, or one bad snap over the head of the punter. The Tigers are in good shape.
Will Spiers returns as the Clemson punter….again. It seems he, Skalski and Turner have been at Clemson for a long time. Well, they have. In four years, Spiers has booted 229 punts for a 41.5 average. His best year was last year, averaging 44.0 yards a punt. He has gotten better each year and looks to have a banner year his last year. He pinned the opponent 17 times inside the 20, and launched 12 punts of 50+ yards
Backing up Spiers is sophomore Aidan Swanson who only got off 3 punts last year for a 43.7 average. Swanson is simply waiting his turn for Speirs to move on and the left-footed punter/place kicker to step in.
B.T. Potter is back for his final year and will be the FG/EXP kicker again for the Tigers. Last year, Potter was 18-23 on field goals with a long of 52, and was 61-62 on extra points, scoring 115 points to lead Clemson in scoring. On 85 kickoffs, Potter had 73 touchbacks, limiting returns for the opposing team.
On 12 kickoff returns by the opposing teams, those returns went for 269 yards, a 22.4 average and no returns for a touchdown. On punt returns, the Tigers had 17 punts returned for 144 yards, an 8.5 average. Clemson is solid in their kickoff and punt return defense. There is no reason to expect any type of decline.
The jury is still out on who will return kicks for the Tigers this year. One possibility is running back Michel Dukes. Amari Rodgers handled most of the punt returns last year, while Lyn-J Dixon and Travis Etienne handled the kick off returns. Due to Dixon starting at running back, that duty might fall to someone else. One possibility is freshman Andrew Mukuba who returned kicks in high school as well as playing safety and wide receiver.
The specialty teams are solid, and should not lose any games for the Tigers. Their punting is solid, their kickoffs rarely get returned and Potter is a top notch FG kicker. Bring on Sept. 4
