Tennessee's Special Teams Could Offer Rare Challenge For South Carolina
As one reporter posed it in a question during Pete Lembo's presser on Wednesday afternoon, South Carolina's special teams hasn't been bad; in fact, it's been good, but it just hasn't been spectacular. It was a sentiment that Pete Lembo agreed with.
"It has been solid, but you know we're certainly gonna keep pushing to improve and keep pushing to make a difference - There's many, many guys that I'm continuing to try to push out of their comfort zones to become effective at their roles on special teams, and there's many many of them that are not there yet."
I bring up that sequence from Lembo's Wednesday presser to gear South Carolina fans up with this possibility: the Gamecocks might have a real battle on their hands regarding special teams on Saturday night against the Tennessee Volunteers. According to Beta Rank's College Football metrics from the analytical site Sharp College Football, Tennessee has the No. 1 Special Teams Unit in the country through the first four weeks of the season, with South Carolina slotted 8th in that same ranking.
According to Pro Football Focus, out of the Top 20 special team players between both teams heading into this matchup, South Carolina possesses only 11 of them, making it almost a dead even 50/50 split between both teams. Tennessee's return specialist, Dee Williams, currently holds the fourth-best punt return average mark in the country, averaging an astonishing 21.2 yards on six punt returns this season.
To top all of that off, the Volunteers have an Austrailian-style punter named Jackson Ross, whom Pete Lembo called on Wednesday "the eighth wonder of the world" because he can punt equally well with both his left and right leg, something rarely seen in the sport. The point being, the Gamecocks have reached the point where people give their special teams unit the benefit of the doubt week in and week out because of the emphasis they put towards it and the reputation the Beamer name carries.
However, the Gamecocks' players and fans must be careful assuming that'll be the case this weekend. No doubt, South Carolina will be the biggest test Tennessee has faced in terms of special teams this season, considering the lack of competition the Volunteers have had to this point, but if Saturday's game comes down to a couple of special teams plays, it might not be a guarantee that Carolina comes out on the winning side of it.
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