Special teams have been a big part of Georgia's 3-2 record thus far. And it happens to be an area of the game that could give South Carolina a real boost against the Dawgs Saturday night.
We are 11th in the conference covering kickoffs and they are first in kickoff returns. AJ Turner is a freshman running back for the Gamecocks, and he happens to be second the conference in kickoff returns, averaging 28.43 yards a return. (He also had that 75 yard rushing touchdown on the opening play from scrimmage last week against A&M. The kid is electrifying.)
One thing I've noticed is that while Kirby mentions quite often that he'd like to kick the ball deeper on kickoffs, his real problem with our kickoff coverage is poor tackling. Georgia faced the conference's best last week in Evan Berry. Not much dropoff this week trying to contain Turner.
And then there's this (h/t):
This week's Sansbury Did You See That Play - Sean Kelly fakes a punt and throws it down field to Hayden Hurst for a #Gamecocks first down. pic.twitter.com/Bb89f2oX4f— Gamecock Athletics (@GamecocksOnline) October 3, 2016
This could absolutely be the get well game the Dawgs need to end a two game skid. But in order for it to be so, discipline on special teams will have to be better than what we've seen thus far.
