While speaking with the media Thursday evening, coach Brian Kelly outlined his 2024 LSU football special teams unit, even taking the time to describe a potential two-punter system.
Coach Brian Kelly shares his thoughts on the LSU football special teams depth chart
One of the more underrated aspects of a football team is most always special teams. More often than not, it’s essentially guaranteed to be forgotten about, but as soon as they mess up, they’re certainly going to be the subject of a hefty dose of scrutiny.
In turn, while it’s not exactly the most attractive thing to put time and energy into, coach Brian Kelly and his coaching staff haven’t forgotten about their group, and actually sound fairly confident about the unit as a whole.
While speaking with the media Thursday evening, coach Kelly took some time to discuss his group, even outlining a brief look at what fans can expect from a depth chart perspective.
“Holder will be Peyton. He’ll be our holder; he’s done a really good job. In terms of PAT, Damian Ramos will be our PAT and field goal kicker,” the Tiger head coach explained. “It’s still pretty competitive – Nate Dibert’s done a really good job on kickoffs. As you know, Aeron Burrell has just been cleared. He’ll be not available this weekend, but should be available next weekend, and he’s got a real chance to compete for that job.”
Peyton Todd will be the holder, Damian Ramos will be our kicker, as I mentioned, Blake and Peyton will both be punting in the game, Slade [Roy] will be our long snapper. It’s a really good unit.”
Expect some punting strategy for the Tigers in 2024
While the majority of his released depth chart didn’t come off as too much of a surprise, there was one spot that at the very least stood out from an explanation standpoint.
One of the biggest losses of the offseason came on special teams, as veteran punter Jay Bramblett graduated, leaving a significant void to be filled in 2024. With that, the LSU coaching staff turned to redshirt junior Peyton Todd, who first signed with the purple and gold as a part of the class of 2021.
Unfortunately, the seasoned special teamer didn’t exactly take hold of the starting job as quickly as the Tiger head coach had hoped, which ultimately led the staff to taking a glance into the spring transfer portal. Not long later, coach Kelly had his backup plan in the form of Louisiana Tech punter Blake Ochsendorf.
However, as it would turn out, it might not have been as much of a backup plan as initially anticipated.
“We want to include the ability to move our punter this year. Jay [Bramblett] was not somebody that felt comfortable in a rugby fashion; he wanted to be a down the line kicker. Blake [Ochsendorf] is accomplished in that and feels comfortable in that kind of Aussie, rugby type of environment,” Kelly continued. “There are times that you want to be able to implement that, and he’s comfortable and accomplished with it, where Peyton Todd is much more of a down the line guy. So, it gives us two weapons within our punt arsenal, and we want to be able to take advantage of that.”
What this change ultimately does for the LSU football special teams unit is yet to be seen, but it’s hard to imagine it will hurt any. If anything, the two-punter system should at the very least provide some notable flexibility moving forward into the 2024 season, which could pay off in a major way in the off chance of any future injuries.
Tiger fans will get their first glimpse at this new-look special teams group in just a matter of days, as the 2024 LSU football season is officially set to get started this Sunday, September 1, against the USC Trojans in Las Vegas, NV, which will be available to watch live on ABC at 6:30 p.m. CST.
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