Joe DeCamillis Talks About Special Teams Battles Heading Into Week One

Alex Joyce | Aug 28, 2024

The USC football team held their first preseason football practice at the USC practice fields on Aug. 5, 2022. The team's head coach is Shane Beamer. Kicker Alex Herrera (40) on the field. Spa Usc First 2022 Football Practice13 / ALEX HICKS JR./STAFF / USA TODAY NETWORK

Special teams is often a less talked about room on a football team. But fans and organizations know a special teams unit can make or break your team on any given gameday.

Gamecocks' Special Teams Coordinator Joe DeCamillis know this to be true after making a career working with special teams units. Coach DeCamillis spent over 20 years in the NFL working in special teams before coming to the college game in 2023.

One of the biggest battles for South Carolina this offseason involved the kickers. There seemed to be a lot of ups and downs coming from that room, but one player really separated themselves in the final stages of fall camp.

"We tried to put him under pressure as much as we could. It was a struggle for all of them really at the start, and then they came on and Alex just showed hopefully what we can get for the whole season. He really had a great two weeks at the end of fall camp," Coach DeCamillis said about the Gamecocks starting place kicker.

It is unknown exactly how the rotations and starter situations will work for the Gamecocks this week, but veteran return man JuJu McDowell is expected to be involved in both punt and kickoff returns.

"JuJu's done a good job for us throughout fall [camp]," Coach DeCamillis said. "I thought [he] caught punts well, made good decisions. He's another guy who we tried to put a lot of pressure on in practice and he really exceled during that time. He's got talent with the ball in his hands. Hopefully we can get some holes for him, that's the biggest key."

Oct 21, 2023; Columbia, Missouri, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks running back Juju McDowell (0) runs with the ball against the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports / Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Gamecock fans will get to see the special teams unit in action this Saturday against Old Dominion at 4:00 pm (ET).

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