As the Kansas football team climbed back to national prominence in 2022 and 2023, the Jayhawks’ special-teams units often lagged behind.
Consider the SP+ rankings compiled by ESPN’s Bill Connelly. The Jayhawks finished the 2022 campaign with a minus-1.7 rating for special teams that was one of the worst marks in the country at 127th nationwide. By the end of 2023 they had skyrocketed (in comparison) to 0.4 and 60th overall.
Or consider anecdotally how special teams cost KU in critical moments. Even in 2023, when Sean Snyder briefly joined the program as a special assistant to the head coach, the Jayhawks’ special teams were a big reason why they lost to OSU and to Kansas State. Against the Cowboys, kicker Seth Keller started struggling to get extra points over the line in a game that was ultimately decided by one possession. Against the Wildcats, KU both gave up a defensive conversion on another blocked point-after and muffed a punt that would have seen the Jayhawks take over near midfield with a lead in the fourth quarter.
Those sorts of blunders have been far less frequent during the 2024 campaign. KU is now 20th in special teams SP+, which is higher than its rankings for offense (34) or defense (73).
Granted, the punt-coverage unit has had its share of struggles in recent weeks. Otherwise, though, there really hasn’t been much to complain about.
Kansas place kicker Tabor Allen (40) during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.
Kickers
For much of the offseason it wasn’t even clear to the public that Tabor Allen was competing for the placekicker role. After KU didn’t add to the kicker group in the offseason, the discussion of who might take over for Keller primarily centered on Owen Piepergerdes and Charlie Weinrich. Even to hear head coach Lance Leipold tell it, Allen sneaked up on the staff a little bit with how consistently he had kicked through the offseason.
So far, he has brought that same consistency to the regular season. The senior, who had previously served as KU’s kickoff specialist and had not attempted a field goal in college, is 6-for-6 this year, including a pair of attempts from 41 yards. KU has not had to test the limits of Allen’s range because it has rarely had drives stall in no man’s land just across midfield. (The exception was in its last game at Arizona State, when KU punted on fourth-and-4 from the ASU 44-yard line in the second quarter, a situation in which the Jayhawks could have decided to go for it instead.)
The lone blemish on Allen’s season thus far is a missed extra point against Lindenwood. He’s also been doing even better than ever before as a kickoff specialist, as 29 of his 33 kickoffs have resulted in touchbacks, compared to 57 of 85 during the 2023 season. The three kicks that opponents have returned have yielded just 16.3 yards on average.
Weinrich kicked off once during the Lindenwood game.
Kansas Jayhawks punter Damon Greaves (35) attempts a punt against Arizona State during a NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Tempe, Ariz.
Punters
That sort of thing hasn’t necessarily worked out quite as well for Damon Greaves, who after having just two of his punts returned, period, for minus-6 yards in his freshman campaign last year has now seen opposing teams produce an 89-yard return touchdown (from TCU’s JP Richardson) and a key 36-yard return that eventually led to a touchdown (from ASU’s Melquan Stovall).
Perhaps Greaves is outkicking his coverage. He is getting better distance on his punts, to the tune of 45.0 yards per attempt compared to 39.2 last season, and the Richardson and Stovall returns were on 50- and 52-yard kicks, respectively. It’s worth noting, though, that according to Pro Football Focus his hangtime has remained the same at an average of 3.91 seconds. And on Richardson’s touchdown, KU had at least three players surrounding him at his own 22-yard line before a key block prevented Torry Locklin from getting to the returner.
In all, Greaves has had 10 punts returned through six games, meaning he is on pace to end up with 10 times as many cumulative returns as last year. He also punted for his first career touchback against Illinois. Whatever the case, it’s been a very different look for the KU punting unit. Greaves currently grades out at 70.0 on PFF, which after the conclusion of last week tied him for 38th among Football Bowl Subdivision punters.
Backup Grayden Addison continues to serve as the holder on Allen’s field goals.
Kansas wide receiver Trevor Wilson (7) during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.
Miscellaneous
The rest of KU’s special teams units have been a mixed bag. Outside of the long punt returns, the worst play of the year for any of them came at ASU when the Jayhawks gave up a fake punt pass to the Sun Devils’ Kanyon Floyd, although the drive ended in a fumble that diminished the impact of that play somewhat.
Walk-on linebacker Dylan Downing, one of KU’s core special teamers (only Cole Petrus, Alex Raich and Locklin have more snaps this year), deflected a punt against Lindenwood after getting close to a block on a number of prior occasions, and reserve defensive tackle Kenean Caldwell blocked a field goal at ASU.
Long snapper Luke Hosford has remained consistent at his position, though he did get charged with one of the unit’s five missed tackles on the season. Backup Emory Duggar came in for one play against Lindenwood.
The return game has not been a significant factor for KU thus far this season. Trevor Wilson, who returned a punt for a score against UCF last year but also struggled with key fumbles, has not done much of note this time around. He has brought back 10 kickoffs for an average of 19.9 yards and fair-caught just one. Wilson has returned three punts, all in the Illinois game, for a total of 22 yards.
Outside of squib kicks, Jameel Croft Jr. became the first non-Wilson player to return a kick during the ASU game. He went for 18 yards.
Kansas’ Jameel Croft Jr. gets upended on a kickoff return against Arizona State during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Tempe, Ariz.
AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
AP Photo/Darryl Webb
AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
AP Photo/Darryl Webb