![South Carolina football's Special Teams Coordinator Pete Lembo has utilized the third phase of the game in unique ways, including having punter Kai Kroeger throw passes. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/848b920607d483aa9948160677043b0496d47958cf44e275c75d784d0e738f2c.jpg "South Carolina football's Special Teams Coordinator Pete Lembo has utilized the third phase of the game in unique ways, including having punter Kai Kroeger throw passes. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]")
After being snubbed as a finalist last season, Gamecock punter Kai Kroeger was chosen as a player to watch for the Ray Guy Award in 2023. The Ray Guy Award is given annually to the top punter in college football, and the South Carolina football special teams star is one of the national favorites to win the award this fall.
Despite being arguably the best punter in all of college football a season ago, Kroeger was not selected as one of the three finalists for the Ray Guy Award in 2022. South Carolina football fans (and even head coach Shane Beamer) were loud opponents of that decision when it was announced last November.
Cincinnati punter Mason Fletcher is the only returner from last season’s finalists. Former Michigan State punter Bryce Baringer is now with the New England Patriots, and former Rutgers punter Adam Korzak won the Ray Guy Award last season and is now in the Canadian Football League with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Special teams coordinator Pete Lembo’s most consistent weapon was chosen as the 2022 first-team All-American punter by several publications and is a preseason All-American heading into the fall. His production last season makes that selection come as no surprise as he was better than all three of last year’s Ray Guy Award finalists.
Statistically, he ranked 5th nationally in punting distance average (Baringer was 1st, Fletcher was 4th, and Korzak was 26th). Kroeger also ranked 1st in the country in the percentage of his punts downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line (50%), significantly ahead of any other punter in the country. His 79-yard punt was the 4th-longest of the season across all of college football, as well.
And, as no South Carolina football fan will forget, Kroeger is the best punter in college football at affecting the game with something other than his foot. In his career, he is 6-6 passing for over 170 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 first downs. He has completions to a long snapper, a tight end, a defensive tackle, a positionless former quarterback (twice), and a walk-on wide receiver.
South Carolina football was lucky for Kroeger to return to school in 2023 (and, if he really wanted to, he could utilize his “Covid redshirt” to return in 2024, as well). #39 has already passed on the NFL once, but after he has another big year in 2023 (perhaps a Ray Guy Award win?), he could be looking at being drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft.