After making some improvements when it comes to special teams in 2023, Kentucky football may be ready to take the next step in 2024.
After a nightmarish kicking game in 2022, Alex Raynor joined the program and quickly addressed this issue by becoming a reliable leg for the Cats last season. The kicker finished 10-11 in field goal attempts and 48-49 in PAT attempts on the year.
These were both huge improvements from the 2022 season where kicker Matt Ruffolo finished 16-24 in field goal attempts and 25-27 in PAT attempts.
Another part of the Wildcats’ special teams that excelled was kickoff returns, thanks to Barion Brown.
In just two seasons at UK, Brown has accumulated 1,016 return yards and holds the program record for most touchdowns in a career with four. He also holds the single-season record with three, which he earned last year.
These vast improvements from previous years’ shortcomings resulted in Kentucky going from 83rd in the country in special teams efficiency all the way up to 39th.
The good news for Kentucky is that both Rayner and Brown are back for the 2024 season, so those facets of the game should only continue to be steady and improve.
As for the shortcomings of the special teams in 2023, the punting game was noticeably bad last season for Kentucky as it was by far the worst in the SEC and even near the worst in the country in some metrics. The Wildcats ranked dead last in the SEC with 39.67 yards per punt off the leg of Wilson Berry.
This meant that there was little to no distance on the punts, which oftentimes gave opponents favorable field positioning and made it harder for the defense to keep points off the board.
To try and address this issue, Kentucky went out and got Aidan Laros via the transfer portal from UT Martin. Laros joins the program with numerous FCS accolades including Punter of the Year and First-Team All-American.
Laros could certainly address the distance problem with punts as he led the FCS in punting, averaging 47.3 yards per punt.
If he can maintain this average in blue and white, then it could mean a 7.63 yard improvement from last season, which could be a drastic shift and that’s not even considering that his average may increase as well.
On top of his punting duties for the Skyhawks in 2023, Laros also served as the team’s kicker for field goals, point-after attempts and kickoffs.
As a field goal kicker, Laros finished 10-16 and 43-45 in PAT attempts, so he could serve as a backup if something were to happen to Rayner during the course of the season.
While Berry was given the starting punter nod for week one against Southern Miss, having Laros backing him up is a massive improvement from one year ago so changes can be made if they need to be when the time comes.
So, whether it’s the returning reliable duo of Raynor at kicker and Brown as return man or the new face at punter in Laros, the special teams unit is primed to take that next step into being a consistently reliable unit in 2024.
It will have its first chance to wow fans when the Wildcats make their season debut at home on Saturday, August 31, against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The game is set to begin at 7:45 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network.
