How South Carolina specialist is evolving into game-changing weapon for Gamecocks
Kai Kroeger is racking up the hardware.
He’s been named to the “Ray’s 8” List, honoring the top punters in the nation in a given week, five times this year. He’s been named Southeastern Conference special teams player of the week twice in 2022 and thrice in his career. It’s a safe bet he’ll be considered a candidate for All-SEC and All-American teams in the coming weeks.
Beyond that, how about the Heisman Trophy?
“I could probably start an internal Heisman campaign,” Kroeger said on Tuesday, tongue-in-cheek. “But I’m going to need some help from the fans and all of you guys (the reporters) to help me get there.”
Kroeger may not be a legit contender for college football’s highest honor, but it’s hard to overstate the third-year punters importance this fall.
The Chicago-area native ranks second in the SEC in yards per punt, boosting his average almost three full yards from a year ago. He’s completed passes in two games this year on fake kicks. He’s even lined up on USC’s hands team because of his reliable mitts.
That’s given the Gamecocks a legitimate game-changer in a position too often ignored in the grander scheme of football coverage.
“The throw that he made on a fake punt against Georgia was a great throw,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “The throw last week was a great throw to Tonka (Hemingway). He’s just a really, really good football player and a great leader for this football team. Any accolades that come his way are well-deserved.”
That Kroeger has become a versatile piece for South Carolina’s standout special teams units shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. He’s certainly not without athletic acumen. Kroeger spent the bulk of his middle school career as a quarterback before moving to receiver once in high school.
The Gamecocks have seen that athleticism on display plenty over the last two years.
Kroeger, who estimated he throws 30 to 40 passes per practice, hit receiver Payton Mangrum for a 44-yard touchdown pass in the loss at Tennessee a year ago. He backed that up this past week against Vanderbilt with a 16-yard completion to defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway on a fake field goal for a crucial fourth-down conversion.
Receiving the snap from long-snapper Hunter Rogers, Kroeger popped up, peeled to his right ever so slightly and glanced toward the outside, where Hemingway stretched toward the sideline.
Kroeger lofted the ball into Hemingway’s outstretched arms and over the shoulder of Commodores defender Jaylen Mahoney with touch more likely reserved to the Gamecocks’ quarterback room than its special teams unit.
“I’ve been trying to tell them boys (the tight ends) I can catch,” Hemingway joked postgame on Saturday.
Added Kroeger: “When I got up and turned, I saw the guy just kind of all over (Hemingway). I thought, ‘Well, OK, I might as well just give him a little touch pass.’ I hoped that would give him a better chance. I tried to do that as best as I could and it worked out perfectly.”
Kroeger, too, has become a crucial piece in the kicking game. Opposing teams are only returning 31.5% of his 38 kicks this year, per Pro Football Focus. His 45.1 yards per punt and 20 kicks downed inside the 20-yard line both rank sixth among Power Five punters with at least 35 attempts, per PFF.
That jump in production has come, at least in part, due to an offseason in which Kroeger added 12 pounds of muscle, giving more power than he’s had in year’s past.
Take this past week as proof of concept. Kroeger booted four punts in the win over Vanderbilt, including kicks of 66 and 69 yards.
“I feel more confident in my body right now,” he explained. “Obviously, I’m still trying to put on weight, but that’s given me the confidence to not just kind of feel like a string bean out there, not feeling powerful, or something like that.”
Beamer in 2021 spent weeks belaboring voters for kicker Parker White’s exclusion from the Lou Groza Award finalists.
This year, he’s taking up for another one of his star specialists in Kroeger — even the Heisman might be a bit out of reach.
“It would be a travesty if he wasn’t one of the top guys in line for the for the Guy Award,” Beamer said. “He’s phenomenal.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 6:50 AM.
