Another Fall Camp Storyline: Battles Within Special Teams

CHAPEL HILL – The many position battles going on at North Carolina’s fall camp have been well documented, but lost in the mass of competition is what is taking place on special teams.

The battles reside over there, too.

For starters, the Tar Heels need a new place kicker. Grayson Atkins is gone, so Jonathan Kim and Noah Burnette are duking it out each day. The competition here is fierce, and the UNC staff is uncertain at the mid-point of fall camp which player will win out.

“Noah Burnette and Jonathan Kim are competing every kick, and the one that makes the most kicks is kicking,” Carolina Coach Mack Brown said following Monday’s practice. “We don’t care.”

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By not caring, Brown means just because Kim has been in the program for a few years and has attempted a field goal and extra point in games, doesn’t mean the job is his. Kim has been Carolina’s kickoff specialist the last few years, and has that job locked up.

Last season, Kim kicked off 84 times with 65 touchbacks. One of his kickoffs went out of bounds.

“Jonathan Kim has kicked every ball out of the end zone that we’ve had him kick off,” Brown said. “Maybe wind, maybe rain, maybe we want a sky kick or something, normally our guys covering aren’t going to have a return against them.”

Burnette was a highly touted kicker at nearby Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, and is pushing Kim every day. So their battle is for the placekicker role, and it could last until game week before the opener August 27 versus Florida A&M.

Ben Kiernan was recently selected to the Ray Guy Award watch list, but he still must fend off Cole Maynard to land the starting punting role. One would think Kiernan will get the nod if the players are even given his experience.

In three seasons, 23 of Kiernan’s punts have gone for more than 50 yards, 41 kicks have ended up inside the 20-yard-line, and 50 of his 139 punts have been fair catches. Last season, Kiernan punted 45 times for a 43.7 average

Maynard, a redshirt freshman from Hough High School in Mooresville, NC, punted once last year, a 46-yard boot versus Georgia State. He and Kiernan are competing daily, and the job hasn’t yet been won.

“Cole Maynard and Ben Kiernan are punting every punt,” Brown said. “And we’re demanding that it be four-second hang time, we’re demanding it be 40-plus yards, and we’re demanding it be on the numbers or in the boundary, and we’re putting the one out there to punt that does that more than not.”

Perhaps the most overlooked role on any special teams unit is the snapper for punts and field goals/extra points. Carolina is in excellent shape with senior Drew Little manning that role. He was the team’s long snapper for two years, but handled all snapping duties a year ago, and will again this fall.

Having Little offers Brown a measure of security given the Richfield, NC, native’s near-flawlessness in his craft.

“Yeah, he’s so good,” Brown said. “We’ll really miss Drew when he leaves.”

The main competition in the return game is at punt returner. Brown said Josh Downs pretty much has the lead spot locked up, but the plan could be to use other players there at times, especially given the heavy workload Downs will have each Saturday.

Three true freshmen are in the mix.

“Josh is obviously the number one punt returner,” Brown said. “You’ve got Andre Greene back there, you’ve got George Pettaway back there, Doc’s (Chapman) back there some. Josh is going to do it, and then we’ve got to figure out which one is going to be (second).”

The Hall of Fame coach then noted redshirt freshman cornerback Dontae Balfour is getting a look back there, too.

Jovan DeWitt ran the special teams a year ago, but moved on, as Brown slid running backs coach Larry Porter over the run special teams. Brown has taken on more of a role with these units, too. And they certainly need work.

Overall, Carolina ranked No. 30 nationally in all special teams grades, according to PFF, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. UNC’s national rankings in raw numbers:

*No. 105 in net punting

*No. 78 in kickoff returns

*No. 48 in kickoff return defense, allowing 20 yards per return

*No. 106 in punt return defense allowing 10.5 yards per return

*No. 42 in punt returns averaging 9.8 yards per return

Carolina did get its hands on four kicks last season, so that was a positive for the Tar Heels. But noteworthy in the troubles on special teams last season was what transpired in Raleigh the day after Thanksgiving. NC State scored a touchdown on a blocked punt and secured an onside kick that inexplicably ended up in the Wolfpack’s hands. State actually blocked two punts that night.

So, competition abounds on all special teams, even kickoff coverage and returns, though Brown said the game has changed so much in recent years with so few returns now, they will usually only spend time preparing for opponents’ squib, pooch, and onside kick games.

Overall, the mission is to elevate the special teams across the board, and that mission is in full swing this month.

“There’s a tremendous amount of competition in those groups because that’s a group that has maybe one to three to five functions a game, and they can’t be two-out-of-five, they’ve got to be a hundred percent,” he said.

“So, they’ve got to be automatic, and I think they’re feeling that with the competitive pressure in practice.”

Brown didn’t offer up any concerns, more these are battles between players who are expected to excel. He is demanding an upgrade across the board for each unit, hence, the increased August competition.