Editor’s note: With LSU’s spring practice now in the rearview mirror, this week we’ll empty our notebook from the spring and cover a few topics that we weren’t able to hit before the Tigers’ spring game. On Thursday we focus on the special teams, which has a new coordinator this year.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- You might wonder how much Colby Delahoussaye can improve upon the results from his freshman season. He missed only one field goal and one extra point, after all -- but that was his focus during LSU’s spring practice.
“I don’t want to say [I was seeking] perfection because nobody’s perfect, but just to hit the ball as well as I can and after each kick -- whether it’s a perfect kick or something’s wrong with it -- I just want to know what did I do wrong each kick without even looking at tape,” Delahoussaye said. “I’m going to look at tape, but I just want to know what did I do wrong at that instance. I want my body to be so conformed to doing the right thing that it knows whenever it does the wrong thing.”
So far, so good. After hitting 13 of 14 field goals -- his 92.9-percent average made him the SEC’s most accurate place-kicker in 2013 -- and 56 of 57 PATs, Delahoussaye said he was hitting the ball even better during the spring. He added close to 10 pounds of muscle during offseason conditioning, which he said made a difference in his kicking power.
“I’ve been kicking the best I’ve been kicking in probably all of my life,” said Delahoussaye, who booted six PATs and did not kick a field goal in the Tigers’ spring game.
The question facing Delahoussaye is not whether he will be the Tigers’ 2014 place-kicker -- that seems to be highly likely -- but whether he will handle other kicking duties. For instance, coach Les Miles recently expressed a preference that another kicker replace James Hairston as the kickoff specialist to reduce Delahoussaye’s workload.
A lifelong LSU fan, Delahoussaye said he also would like to be the kickoff man but will be happy to specialize only in the kicks that result in points.
“I really enjoy kicking field goals. I’ve never complained about wanting to do more. Whenever I’m kicking field goals for LSU, I’m never going to complain about that.”
Besides, the Tigers have some other options who could keep them from relying on the sophomore too heavily.
“There’s a young man named [Cameron] Gamble coming in who has a pretty good leg,” Miles said. “We’ll also look at some other guys we have on the team at kicker that have ability. Trent Domingue would be that guy.”
Domingue was that guy this spring, and he also rotated with 2013 starter Jamie Keehn, who averaged 41.0 yards per punt last fall, as the first-team punter. Domingue punted eight times in the spring game and averaged 39.9 yards per attempt, and Keehn averaged 41.5 yards on four kicks.
“This is probably the biggest opportunity I’ve had, but I’m just going to keep working hard and not let it pass me up,” said walk-on Domingue, who has yet to appear in a college game.
Even if Keehn holds onto the punter job, there will still be plenty of turnover on the Tigers’ special teams units this fall under first-year coordinator Bradley Dale Peveto. Aside from the kickoff job, someone must replace Odell Beckham as the return man on kickoffs and punts.
Miles said some members of the Tigers’ star-studded 2014 recruiting class might be able to step into that role -- one that requires steady hands and breakaway speed, which are always in full supply on LSU’s roster.
“A number of guys can catch it. I think [tailback Terrence] Magee may very well be one of those guys,” Miles said. “I think there’s a likelihood that we’ll have some of those fast guys in that spot, as well. I think there’s some guys that will show up here in June that may also have an opportunity to do some return damage.”