June 7th, 2017, a young kicker from Rock Hill, SC, committed to the Clemson Tigers. On December 14th, 2021, B.T. Potter tweeted out “Not ready for my time in Clemson to be over just yet! Let’s do it one more time.” Needless to say, Potter coming back for one more year solidifies place kicking for one more year.
In his freshman year, Potter was 1-1 in field goals and 7-7 in extra points, kicking behind senior Greg Huegel. Since that time, he has made 52 field goals on 70 attempts and has been successful on 178 of 179 extra point attempts. Potter has benefited from powerful Clemson offenses, scoring 100+ points each year for the last three years. 2022 will be more of the same.
Behind Potter, there are three walk-ons and a highly touted freshman who will vie for playing time, starting in the spring. Quinn Castner, Jonathan Weitz, and redshirt freshman Hogan Morton will attempt to catch the eye of the coaches while at the same time fighting off Robert Gunn III, a highly touted freshman from Largo, Florida. Kickers don’t get a lot of chances to show their talents in the spring game, but practice is where they will make the most impressions. None will overtake Potter.
Think about this. The Clemson Tigers have had the same punter the last five years. He has kicked in 68 games, punted the ball 292 times, had a career average of 41.4, with only one block and had one punt returned for a touchdown. Will Spiers will not be around this year. It’s time to turn the page, but who will it be?
Aidan Swanson has patiently waited his turn to show what he can do. In 3 years at Clemson, Swanson has 8 punts for 305 yards, a 38.1 average. He is going to be challenged by incoming freshman, Jackson Smith, of Saraland, AL. Smith, 6-5 225, reminds people of Bradley Pinion, former Clemson punter now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Ranked as the #5 punter in the nation by Kohl’s Kicking, he punted 78 times his last 3 seasons, playing 43 inside the 20. Spiers played high school quarterback prior to coming to Clemson. Jackson played sparingly at QB his last two years, completing 17-21 passes for 186 yards. Nice to have a punter who can throw it that doesn’t look like Garo Yepremean trying to hit a defensive tackle on a fake punt. (99% of readers will not know who Yepremean is).
A key piece of the special teams will NOT be on the field in 2022, holder Will Swinney. Numerous times Swinney could be seen catching an errant snap and getting it down so Potter could get a clean kick. The Tigers must find someone to take over this job.
The Clemson defense allowed 21 touchdowns and 13 field goals on the season. Considering each team MUST kickoff at least 13 times in 13 games, adding 34 more kickoffs after scoring
points, the Tiger kick off returners didn’t have a lot of chances to return kicks. As a team, the Tigers had 21 kickoff returns, averaging 24.86 yards a return. Will Shipley led the Tigers in kick returns, bringing back 14 for a 27.1 average with a long return of 75 yards. The staff may look for someone else to take over as Shipley gets beat up enough on offense. It will be interesting to see who the staff runs out there on the opening kickoff against Georgia Tech. .
Will Brown won the job as punt returner once Will Taylor got hurt against Boston College and provided sure hands, especially on fair catches. Now that he is gone, Taylor, if healthy, might be the man back on punts. Thus, this is another position where the staff will test out several players during spring and fall practice. Although he won’t be at Clemson in the spring, an intriguing prospect to keep an eye on is Cole Turner, brother of departing Clemson safety Nolan Turner. His game tape from high school shows him returning punts and kickoffs for the distance.
Special teams is another area to keep an eye on, who they run back there on kickoffs and who sets up deep on punt returns. Watch the Aidan Swanson/Jackson Smith punting competition. It should be fun.
