More on the Gamecocks’ kicker battle

One of the key ongoing position battles for South Carolina is at placekicker, where the Gamecocks are replacing the reliable Mitch Jeter.

As good to great as USC’s been under Shane Beamer in the special teams phase, it’s still a part of the game that some do not think about unless something goes wrong or there is a big trick play.

The reality is, for many years spanning multiple coaches, the Gamecocks have been quite spoiled when it comes to having a reliable kicker.

Let’s consider just the past three seasons in Columbia:

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2021: Parker White was perfect on extra points and was 13 of 14 on field goals. He had just one random miss in the Vanderbilt game (which came in the 30-39 yard range) but was otherwise unblemished. White even nailed a 54-yarder.

2022: Mitch Jeter was a perfect 10 for 10 on field goals and went 37-39 on extra points for the year. His field goal tally included a pair of makes from 50-plus yards.

2023: The returning Jeter missed just two field goals last season, both coming from 50-plus yards. He was 12-14 overall with a long of 51. He also added 33 extra points in 34 tries.

Let’s bring things forward to 2024:

Senior Alex Herrera entered the spring as the presumed front-runner to take over for Jeter, who transferred this offseason to Notre Dame. Walk-on William Joyce has also been in the mix there.

Interestingly, Herrera was locked in a battle with the aforementioned Jeter back in 2022, a competition that went up until the first game.

Former special teams coach noted at the time that Herrera and Jeter were charting similar in practice in terms of made kicks (around 80 to 85 percent), comparing that to Parker White, who usually hovered around 90.

Jeter ended up getting the first chance in the opener and didn’t surrender the job, hitting every field goal opportunity he had that season.

“I’m not worried,” Shane Beamer said after the Gamecocks’ first preseason scrimmage. “It just overall has not been as consistent as I would like. Our kickers will be fine. We’ve got to keep putting them in pressure situations.”

During preseason camp, Beamer and new special teams coach Joe DeCamillis have been attaching stakes – a positive or negative outcome, like a reward or extra running – for the entire team based on makes or misses from the kickers.

Who will win the job? It’s not clear at this point.

USC’s entered past seasons with some questions at kicker that have been answered resoundingly. Given the schedule this team faces and the fact that some contests could come down to a big kick, it’s important that happens again.

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