Heading into the 2024 season – outside of veteran kicker Damian Ramos – the LSU football special teams unit had no shortage of question marks surrounding it. However, it didn’t take more than five games to realize just how much this unit has improved in the offseason, and head coach Brian Kelly had plenty of good to say about the group earlier this week on Tuesday.
Strength in numbers for the Tiger kicking unit
In the wonderful world of college football, it’s not uncommon for special teams to be forgotten about. This goes for both fanbases and coaching staffs, as you’ll even find teams without a special teams coordinator altogether.
Following a similar tune, it’s also not uncommon for minimal roster spots to be taken up by the unit, with as few as one kicker taking care of all forms of kicking duties, including kickoff, punting and field goals.
Well, for LSU, this couldn’t be much further from the truth. As a matter of fact, as far as kicking the ball goes, they not only have several capable legs on scholarship, but they’ve impressively found a way to utilize just about all of them in some way shape or form.
Youth is no concern when you have one of the strongest legs on roster
Starting out with kickoffs, it’s become abundantly clear that Brian Kelly and the 2024 LSU coaching staff wanted to do one thing, and one thing only: kick the ball out of the endzone.
In doing so, you not only neutralize your opponent’s playmakers on that side of the ball, but you also give your defense a set amount of yardage that they can expect to be covering in any one possession. To make sure that this happens, you need someone with a strong leg, and for that, they’ve gone with the youngest player in the position group – freshman kicker Aeron Burrell.
“Up until this point last year, we had 12 returns for 272 yards,” the Tiger head coach said while speaking on the LSU football special teams this week. “I think we’ve got two for something like 30 yards. I mean, that’s a huge difference in field position, so that hidden yardage, in terms of kickoff and kickoff coverage, we’ve hit virtually every ball out of the back of the endzone, so Aeron Burrell has made a huge difference there.”
Damian Ramos continues impressive streak of consistency
As far as putting points on the board goes, things have looked very similar for the purple and gold for three years straight, as redshirt junior Damian Ramos has been one of the most consistent kickers in the country as far as field goals and PATs go.
After first joining the program in 2021, it didn’t take long for the Baltimore, MD, product to find his way onto the field for the purple and gold. Earning the start just one year later as a redshirt freshman in 2022, Ramos hasn’t looked back, making 27 field goals and 153 extra points in his now two and a half years as the man in charge.
“Damian Ramos is like money. That guy is solid. He was last year, he continues to be as our field goal kicker.”
In 2024, Ramos is perfect on PATs, hitting all 21 of his attempts, while having missed just one field goal, going 5-for-6 on the year.
With all of that said, though, possibly the most impressive thing about the veteran kicker is the fact that he hasn’t missed an extra point attempt since November 19, 2022. Since then, he’s been a perfect 110-for-110 in that spot.
Ever heard of a punter by committee?
Speaking of utilizing all of their legs to the best of their ability, LSU has a punting room that very well might be one of the most unique in the country, and it’s entirely because of their punter by committee approach.
Many programs in college football have just one punter on roster, but heading into the 2024 offseason, coach Brian Kelly went ahead and dipped his toe into the transfer portal, bringing Blake Ochsendorf over from Louisiana Tech to serve as a potential co-starter, alongside Peyton Todd.
As it would turn out, this wasn’t so much as to create competition, but rather to create balance.
When speaking on his decision to snag a second punter from the portal, the Tiger head coach spoke a bit about strategy, and what the addition could end up doing for his unit.
“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 said in August.
“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.”
As it would turn out, the decision has gone just about as well as anyone could have expected, with the pair combining for 14 punts for 573 yards, averaging 40.9 yards per punt in 2024.
“I think the big thing that we’re doing really well is positionally, we’re really smart in terms of punts. We either knock it down inside the ten, or we’ve been really good at positionally punting.”
LSU football special teams has officially found its return man
Finally, getting away from kicking the ball a bit, one of the most important transfer portal additions of the offseason just so happens to also be one of the very best players on the entire LSU football special teams unit.
Coming off a season in which the Tigers recorded just 74 yards on seven total punt returns, something clearly needed to change. As it would turn out, that change would end up being just around the corner with another SEC program, with wide receiver Zavion Thomas electing to make the move from Mississippi State to the Tigers of Baton Rouge, LA.
As far as a specific position goes, it’s hard to pin down exactly where Thomas belongs on the LSU depth chart. He’s a more than capable ballcarrier, and he’s certainly no stranger to a deep shot or two on the offensive side of things. However, when it comes to returning the ball on either kick or punt returns, it’s not hard to see that this is where he truly shines.
“In terms of punt return, although we haven’t hit the big one, we’ve got a steady guy back there that is a playmaker, and so Zavion Thomas has made a huge difference.”
Standing at 5-foot-10, 195 pounds, Thomas has been on the verge of bringing a return all the way back for a touchdown several times, returning eight punts for 35 yards, as well as 10 kicks for 130 yards thus far in 2024.
In short, he’s been a welcome addition both on offense and special teams, and he’s just one part of an overall much improved special teams unit for this year’s 2024 LSU football team.
“All in all, special teams have been really good,” coach Brian Kelly concluded. “That hidden yardage has come out to help us, and that’s been something that you don’t normally see, but it affects the score card.”
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