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From 2019 to 2022, LSU had a very strong special teams unit with punters like Zach Von Rosenburg, Avery Atkins, and now Jay Bramblett. Their place-kicking was also exceptional with Cade York taking the country by storm as a freshman in 2019.
However, now that York is no longer in Baton Rouge and is in the NFL, the Tigers found themselves in a special teams hole in 2022. Their ranking according to Phil Steele went from 61st in 2021 to 117th in 2022.
How can LSU fix their special teams woes? Well, in 2023, it’ll be on the feet of Jay Bramblett and Damian Ramos.
Jay Bramblett
Bramblett came to Baton Rouge along with Brian Kelly at the start of 2022. In his three years in South Bend, Bramblett had 164 punts with an average of 41.6 yards per punt while placing 49 inside the 20-yard line.
During his first year with the Tigers, the Tuscaloosa native had 49 punts in 14 games with an average of 44.5 yards per punt, placing 18 of the 49 inside the 20.
Heading into 2023, Bramblett has been placed on the Ray Guy Award Watch List. The Ray Guy Award goes to the best punter in all of college football, so we will definitely keep an eye on what the Tigers’ punter is doing throughout the season.
Damian Ramos
Ramos took over the kicking duties as a true freshman in Kelly’s first season with LSU and had some early struggles. However, he settled in throughout the year to finish with a 10-14 mark on field goals and a 55-57 on extra points.
He split kickoff duties with Nathan Dilbert as well, with Ramos having 25 kickoffs and 11 touchbacks in 2022. I certainly think there will be a competition between those two, but Ramos has the advantage in 2023.
Returns
LSU struggled mightily in the return game last year with multiple fumbles that gave opponents prime scoring opportunities. Also, the averages have to be better with kick returns only getting 19.8 yards per return and punt returns sitting at 3.3 per return.