Breaking Down the Boston College Football Roster: The Specialists

Breaking Down the Specialists

Punters:

Grant Carlson – RS Junior

The lone listed punter on the roster, Carlson averaged 40.2 yards per punt and put 25 of his 69 punts inside the 20. The punting average puts him a little bit below the median across the NCAA, but the 36% inside the 20 is solid. Last year was his first year as the starter, and his game by game average improved a little bit as the year went on.

The real issue with Carlson’s tenure as punter has been punt blocks. BC ranked last in the country with 3 blocked punts allowed (though only one was clearly Carlson’s fault), and that ultimately falls on the protection more than anything else.

Kickers:

Colton Lichtenberg, whose ups and downs are well documented, graduated with the class of 2019, and now his successor needs to be found. So let’s first look at the returners:

Danny Longman – Sophomore

Longman started on kick-offs last year and made one field goal of 26 yards against Temple as well as all three of his extra points.

John Tessitore – Sophomore

Tessitore got the nod when Colton went out with injury and put up an uninspiring 14/18 on extra points. Addazio didn’t seem to trust him on field goals either, aggressively opting to go for it on fourth down in opponent’s territory.

It’s not exactly an inspiring list of qualifications, which is why the presumable starter is the incoming the incoming graduate transfer: Aaron Boumerhi.

Boumerhi was a three year starter at Temple, making 95% of his extra points and 72% of his field goals over that time with a long of 49 yards. He went 1/3 last year before being sidelined after a hip surgery early in the season. Boumerhi is almost assuredly the starter for camp (I doubt he’d come to the Heights if he weren’t told the job was his to lose), but there’s still some uncertainty there.