Position Review: Specialists

The specialist were anything but special in 2019, today we breakdown the punting and place kicking spots for the Tigers.

Editor’s note: @ClemsonSI is running a series of 10 positional breakdowns each day reviewing the 2019 season.

Gone was placekicker Greg Huegel, who exited Clemson ranked first in school history in career extra points (217) and second in career scoring (379 points), as well as Alex Spence, who served as the primary placekicker in 2017 after losing Huegel to injury. 

Among who battled through a rough place kicking season in 2019 were sophomore B.T. Potter (Rock Hill, S.C.) and senior Steven Sawicki (Fayetteville, N.C.). Potter entered 2019 having hit his lone field-goal attempt in 2018, a 24-yarder at Florida State, while Sawicki made three field goals in the 2019 Spring Game.

Positional Breakdown: Potter ranked first in the nation in kickoff average with an average of 64.6 yards per kick. His 76.7 percent touchback percentage on those kickoffs ranks eighth in the country. Potter was also a perfect on PATs this season. 

Potter briefly ceded the position to senior Steven Sawicki (Fayetteville, N.C.) midyear, but reclaimed the job with a strong performance down the stretch that included a 51-yard field goal at Louisville, one of three field goals of 50-plus yards the strong-legged kicker has converted this season, including a 52-yard career-long and bowl-record long in the Fiesta Bowl. 

Junior Will Spiers has been the team’s primary punter. He was responsible for all but eight punts in 2019, averaging 42.5 yards per punt, including eight of 50 yards or more. 

Spiers has been the starting punter for all 42 of his career games at Clemson.cond team All ACC selection in just his first season at the position at this level.

Strengths: The Tigers strength was in kickoff coverage, where they ranked 13th nationally in opponents returns—averaging only 1.7 returns per game, no touchdowns allowed and an average of 29.3 yards per game.

This came as no surprise to those who watched Potter's leg last season, in which he won the kickoff job in a "blowout" that "wasn't even close," according to head coach Dabo Swinney.

Weaknesses: Punting continued to be an area of concern for the Tigers, as Spiers continued to be consistently inconsistent all season, booming a 50-yard punt only to shank the next one. 

In fact, the Tigers two-year starter finished 88th in punt average in 2018 and and improved only one spot in 2019 to 87th nationally.

Potter was consistently inconsistent as well, as he finished 99th in the nation, converting 61.9% of his attempts in 2019. Thankfully the Tigers did not need his services to secure a win, however one of the misses could have made the Tigers' one-point win at North Carolina a little easier when his miss earlier in the game would have given the Tigers a four-point win.

Overall Grade: D