COLOMBIA — South Carolina Football takes the field for the season opener in 17 days, and according to punter Kai Kroeger, working with new special teams coach Joe DeCamillis has been nothing short of productive.
DeCamillis was named associate head coach/special teams coordinator for the Gamecocks in late January. For the 2023 season, DeCamillis was part of Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Texas as a special assistant to the head coach, his first college football job following his 34-year NFL coaching career. He won two Super Bowls, one with the Denver Broncos and another with the Los Angeles Rams, and made seven AFC or NFC championship appearances.
Now he’s on coach Shane Beamer’s staff, and it appears that against Old Dominion on August 31 (4:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network), the special teams unit will be well prepared.
“He’s been incredible for us, both as specialists and on our team,” Kroeger said Wednesday. “He is a genius, his experience in the NFL is unparalleled. He was able to give me a ton of exercises to help with my technique, which I’ve seen help tremendously.”
DeCamillis came to South Carolina after Peter Lembo left the Gamecocks to take the head coaching job at Buffalo. In 2022 under Lembo, with Kroeger as a key part of the special teams, Lembo’s unit was one of the best rated special teams groups in college football. Lembo was named Phil Steele’s 2022 Special Teams Coach of the Year.
In the same year, Kroeger was the representative of the SEC second best punter, finishing with an average of 46.1 yards per punt, 1.8 yards behind Florida’s Jeremy Crawshaw. In 2023, he took a step down, finishing 7th in the conference and averaging 43.2 yards per punt. South Carolina averaged 17.6 yards per kick return, the second worst at the SEC.
Kroeger said DeCamillis provided specific exercises that helped with elbow placement and technique. One problem for him last year was that he didn’t have his left elbow tucked far enough at his side; instead, the elbow was tilted. This caused him to drop the ball inside his left shoulder, which caused him to swing his body with the ball hitting the side of his left foot. He’s been working on it since late last year.
In preseason practice, Kroeger has been splitting punts with freshman Mason Love – mainly to get some reps for the young player. Kroeger, a fifth-year player, will be the Gamecocks’ punter. After spending the off-season going over mistakes in 2023, studying where he underperformed, Kroeger now wants to use his new coach’s vast experience to get back to the way he shot in 2022.
“We have a great relationship,” Kroeger said of the two. “I always look for him to ask if I can watch the guys he coached or something like that, in technical terms. What he’s doing for our team in terms of philosophy and how he gets our players to attack certain things has been great.
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Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared in the Greenville News: South Carolina football punter Kai Kroeger is getting a boost with his elbow
