Big South K/P 2015

[bjtheflamesfan]

Well CS.com fans, this is it. The final position preview of the summer as we prepare for the 2015 FCS Kickoff between North Dakota State and Montana on Friday night, with the rest of the country kicking off the following Saturday. Next week will be my annual season predictions thread and order of finish in the Big South, but we still have the business of previewing the guys who actually (in the case of two teams), had their play decide the Big South Championship the last two seasons:

Kickers

Charleston Southern

David Kennedy 11/18 FG (Long 45) 33/37 PAT
Bryan Jordan 0/1 FG 3/4 PAT

Kennedy won the battle between the three young kickers for the starting job in 2014. He missed 4 kicks in conference play last season, although thankfully none of them affected the result in many games, but if the Bucs are going to take that next step and possibly supplant Liberty OR Coastal Carolina at the top of the conference this season, it may come down to a boot from the 5-11 sophomore.

Coastal Carolina

Ryan Granger 3/4 FG (Long 51) 5/5 PAT
Masamitsu Ishibashi 0/0 FG 1/1 PAT

Granger likely takes over the primary kicking duties following the graduation of Alex Catron, who finished as second team all-conference kicker behind All-American John Lunsford (more on him later). Ishibashi only attempted 1 PAT last season before going down to injury, and probably will see quite a bit of time on kickoffs and some occasional kicking as well.

Gardner-Webb

Paul Schumacher 8/17 FG (Long 43) 22/23 PAT
Josh Walston No 2014 Stats

Schumacher finished last season as 1 of 4 kickers to miss 2 or fewer PAT in 2014 (the other three being Brandon Morrow of PC and the previously mentioned Lunsford and Catron). He will be the starter for the Bulldogs again as the other kicker from last year, Grayson Gregory, is no longer on the roster. This leaves the backup job between two true freshmen in Walston and Tre Jackson (who will start the year as the #3 punter behind returners Dustin Holder and ANdrew Komornik). It will be interesting to see if COach McCray decides to make a change should Schumacher struggle with his field goals, who he decides to go with...unless they decide to go for it in plus territory.

Kennesaw State
Jordan Genovese
Justin Thompson

Liberty

John Lunsford 19/24 FG (Long 60, more on that in a moment) 43/44 PAT (2014 Big South Special Teams Player of the Year 2014 Big South All Conference First Team)
Avery Echols 1/1 FG (Long 22) 5/5 PAT

Lunsford earned himself a new nickname in 2014, Legatron 2.0 following this field goal at the end of regulation against Richmond:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn_20D9o_yQ[/youtube]

Lunsford would finish with the top 3 longest field goals in the country among FCS kickers (he also had a 57 yarder against Bryant and a 56 yarder in the playoff win over JMU) and will likely get some serious NFL looks due to his seemingly limitless range.

He also had one of the longest streaks of consecutive PAT made before missing one last year, ending the streak at 94 in a row.

Echols filled in for Lunsford while he sat out the first two games and served admirably, making his lone field goal against Norfolk State and adding 5 PAT on the season. Look for him to get a few more looks this year as the "heir apparent" for 2016.

Monmouth

Lucas Santangelo 10/17 FG (Long 41) 31/24 PAT
John Coleman No 2014 Stats

Santangelo carried the kicking game for the Hawks. handling the field goals, PATs and all but 3 of the kickoffs in 2014. COleman and White will battle for the spot behind him, as well as the likely "heir apparent" for 2016

Presbyterian

Brandon Morrow 2/5 FG (Long 31) 17/19 PAT
TIm Hartshorn No 2014 Stats

Morrow carried the kicking duties for PC last year, although they only attempted 6 total kicks on the year (converting 3 of them). With Brett Wilson out, the battle has been between Hartshorn and true freshman Brett Norton for the #2 spot at the position

Rankings
1. John Lunsford, LU
2. Ryan Granger, CCU
3. David Kennedy CSU
4. Paul Schumacher, GWU
5. Brandon Morrow, PC
6. Lucas Santangelo
7. Avery Echols, LU
8. Masamitsu Ishibashi, CCU
9. Bryan Jordan, CSU
10. Jordan Genovese, KSU

Punters

Charleston Southern

Truett Burns 54 Punts (37.2 AVG) Long 59
Logan Robinson No 2014 Stats

Burns returns as the incumbent punter after an outstanding 2014 season, just missing out on all-conference honors

Coastal Carolina

Caleb Kelly No 2014 Stats (transfer from South Carolina)
Grayson Shelly No 2014 Stats (transfer from Towson)

The Chants lose a weapon in Austin Cain, so in come two transfers, 1 FBS and 1 FCS to fill his shoes. Kelly comes from Steve Spurrier's program at South Carolina where he played behind Tyler Hull and Patrick Fish (hey Chants, what's the story on his coming to Conway?), while Shelly comes over from Rob Ambrose and the Towson Tigers.

Gardner-Webb

Andrew Komornik 51 Punts (38.8 AVG) Long 63
Dustin Holder 31 Punts (38.5 AVG) Long 53

With no slight intended to the Runnin Bulldogs fanbase, this is one of the few positions where there is little question going into the season. Both Komornik and Holder return following excellent seasons, which will help the younger kickers to get some development behind them barring injury.

Kennesaw State

Mason Gann
Josh Boham

Liberty

Trey Turner 56 Punts 41.5 AVG Long 59 (2014 Big South All-Conference First Team)
John Lunsford No 2014 Stats

Turner was one of the biggest question marks coming into 2014, having to replace Grant Bowden, as well as being the ONLY pure punter on the roster. Well, he not only answered those questions, and blew away the low expectations there may have been for him, but he finished as the first team punter on the all-conference squad as well.

The Flames do not list a second punter on the roster, but expect either Echols or Lunsford to back up Turner at this spot.

Monmouth
With no returning punters listed on the roster for the HAwks following the graduation of all-conference punter Ryan Mohr, I expect that either John Coleman or Matt White, whichever of the two does not win the backup kicker job, wil take over the punting duties

Presbyterian

Stephen Doar 68 Punts (38.1 Avg) Long 64
Jackson Boland No 2014 Stats


Rankings

1. Trey Turner, LU
2. Stephen Doar, PC
3. ANdrew Komornik, GWU
4. Truett Burns, CSU
5. CAleb Kelly, CCU
6. Logan Robinson, CSU
7. Dustin Holder, GWU
8. Jackson Bland, PC
9. Grayson Shelly, CCU
10. Mason Gann, KSU

Its been a blast doing these position previews, but we all know games are nt won and lost on paper or message boards, but on the field, so good luck to everybody, and I will have my season prediction thread up Friday night or Saturday.