By Hunt Palmer
Brian Kelly has not been afraid to make staff changes when he identifies a weakness.
During his first year at LSU, 2022, the special teams units were disastrous. It took four quarters for that to become abundantly clear. Florida State blocked two LSU kicks in the seasons opener including a potential game-tying extra point with no time left on the clock. LSU also muffed a pair of punts.
Improvement never really came.
A month later LSU muffed the opening kickoff against Tennessee to help create a 7-0 deficit. Two months after that special teams coordinator Brian Polian left the program.
Bob Diaco was brought in to help clean things up in 2023, but that got off to a rough start. LSU muffed the second punt of the season versus Florida State, and the decision was made to essentially scrap the punt return game.
Over two seasons, 2022 and 2023, LSU returned just 23 of opponents’ 105 punts. That’s a return rate of 22 percent.
When the eventual Heisman Trophy winner pilots an offense that leads the nation in points per game and total offense, a steady diet of fair catches makes some sense. Still, elite programs like LSU are teeming with electric playmakers capable of changing a game’s momentum with one play.
Zavion Thomas has made a collegiate career out of it. Through two seasons at Mississippi State, Thomas averaged 12.5 yards per punt return including a touchdown against Georgia in 2022. His 202 return yards as a freshman nearly doubled LSU’s output over 2022 and 2023—126 yards.
In five games as LSU punt returner, Thomas has already returned eight of 20 punts for 35 yards. He’s upped the return rate to 40 percent without putting the ball on the ground.
“Although we haven’t hit the big one, we’ve got a steady guy back there who is a playmaker,” said LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly. “Zavion has made a huge difference.”
As far as return prevention, freshman Aeron Burrell has neutralized opposing kickoff returns.
He’s booted 24 of his 25 kickoffs for touchbacks, only yielding a return after a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty forced LSU to kick of from its own 20 yard line against USC.
“It’s a huge difference in terms of field position,” Kelly said. “Those hidden yards in terms of kickoff and kickoff coverage, we’ve hit every virtually every ball out of the back of the endzone, so Aeron Burrell’s made a huge difference.”
Kelly comfortably tabbed Jay Bramblett his starting punter at Notre Dame in 2019. For five years at two different schools, Bramblett handled the punting duties. Last year, only two of Bramblett’s boots were returned for a loss of one yard.
Peyton Todd and Louisiana Tech transfer Blake Ochsendorf battled in fall camp to be Bramblett’s successor, and Kelly announced before the opener that both players would contribute. That has held up as the strong-legged Todd has handled the longer punting duties. Ochsendorf has tried to pin opponents deep.
All four of Ochsendorf punts have been caught inside the 20. Todd is averaging 41.1 yard per punt. Opponents are only averaging 4.4 yards per return.
“Positionally, we’re really smart when it comes to punts,” Kelly said. “We either knock it down inside the 10, or we’ve been really good at positionally punting.”
The punting has been steady if unspectacular similar to placekicker Damion Ramos, now in his third season as the starting kicker.
Ramos is five-of-six on the young season, his lone miss coming on a time-sensitive kick prior to halftime versus Nicholls State. Backup quarterback Rickie Collins was tackled with three seconds to go and ruled out of bounds. The play was reviewed, and the officials determined Collins was in bounds. Ramos and the field goal team were lined up but rushed to execute the attempt in the three seconds after play was reviewed. The kick sailed wide right.
Ramos has been a 77 percent kicker in his three seasons, 79 percent from under 50 yards. He’s only been asked to try one kick from better than 50 yards. It was unsuccessful.
“Damion Ramos is like money,” Kelly said. “That guy is solid. He was last year. He continues to be.”
After making the headlines for all the wrong reasons for two years, the special teams have been cleaned up, and there is hope that Thomas and Co. can start to make positive headlines moving forward.
“I think all-in-all, special teams has been really good,” Kelly said. “That hidden yardage has come out to help us. And that’s been something that you don’t normally see, but it affects the scorecard.”
