South Carolina Football: Assistant named Coach of the Year
By Kevin Miller
The South Carolina football program is on the way up under Head Coach Shane Beamer. Moving from two wins (in the final year of Will Muschamp’s time in Columbia) to seven wins to eight wins during Beamer’s first two years at the helm has demonstrated just some of the growth the Gamecocks have experienced.
Some of the Gamecocks’ best-performing units have been coached by some of the best assistant coaches in the nation. The Carolina secondary is coached by Torrian Gray. His position group could have both of its corners from a season ago drafted in the top-100 picks of April’s NFL Draft, and both of last season’s safeties were named Freshmen All-Americans.
A position with more questions than answers entering the Beamer era was wide receiver. Receivers Coach Justin Stepp has coached his unit up to include a first-team All-SEC performer in Antwane “Juice” Wells and a potential NFL Draft pick in Josh Vann. The Gamecocks also will be welcoming 5-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor to campus this summer, and the Olympic hopeful is expected to spend most of his time at wide receiver.
But the best job has been done by Special Teams Coordinator Pete Lembo. Along with his head coach, Lembo has headed up the Beamer Ball special teams unit to become the best in the nation, and college football personality Phil Steele has taken notice. Steele released his choice for the 2022 special teams coach of the year, and Lembo was the runaway winner.
The South Carolina special teams unit of 2022 was among the national leaders in important special teams categories such as blocked kicks, net punt return defense, net punt return offense, net kick return defense, net kick return offense, and touchdowns. Punter Kai Kroeger was arguably the best in the country at his position, and kicker Mitch Jeter didn’t miss a kick all season.
The honor from Steele was well-deserved for Lembo. The mad scientist behind a play that saw his punter throw a long touchdown pass to his long snapper has a special teams playbook for gadget plays from the oft-forgotten third unit, something that is not exactly commonplace among college football programs.
If Lembo can lead the Gamecocks in 2023 to just half the success they experienced on special teams in 2022, he will be in the running to win the award again. The Broyles Award finalist is having his coaching efforts recognized more and more by the college football community, and Gamecock Nation knows that he is worthy of it all.
With last season’s starters returning at punter, kicker, long snapper, one gunner spot, and kickoff returner, Lembo has lots of the same pieces in place from a year ago. Assuming he can find adequate replacements for Josh Vann at punt returner and Darius Rush at gunner, fans can expect another special season for South Carolina football in 2023.