BC’s kicking game… is actually fine?
Kicking
Liam Connor will return in 2024 for his third season on the Heights and now his second full season as Boston College’s field goal kicker. The Leominster, MA native was very solid for the Eagles in his first year as a starter in 2023, going 36/39 on PATs and 11/14 on FGs. All three of his misses came from 40+ yards out, as Connor kicked a perfect 6/6 from 39 yards or less, so he was reliable when they needed him to put some easy points on the board. This is a very welcome change, after BC’s Connor Lytton kicked just about 50% on field goal attempts two years ago.
Connor shared kickoff duties last season with Luca Lombardo, who returns for his junior season as well. The pair totaled only two out-of-bounds kickoffs all season in 2023, so we should be looking forward to another solid performance from them this fall.
Punting
The Australian Sam Candotti returns as Boston College’s primary punter in 2024, after sharing time with Loren Diloreto last year. Candotti’s punts averaged out to 38.1 yards/kick in 2023, which was good for only 13th in the ACC out of 14. He did manage to pin opponents inside of the 20-yard line almost half of the time though (14/32 punts), so those numbers may be skewed by how effective he was in short punting situations.
He’ll have two punters lurking below him on the depth chart, sophomore Ivan Zivenko and redshirt freshman K/P Sam Stone, so it remains to be seen if Candotti will see any competition for playing time this season, especially under a new coaching regime.
Returning
Boston College lost their star kick returner Ryan O’Keefe midway through the 2023 season due to a very scary injury, and Jeff Hafley’s staff never really found a consistent replacement. Lewis Bond did some of the returning work last season and seems the likeliest option to emerge out of this muddled group, though.
But Bond is expected to have a pretty big role in the passing game as well, so Bill O’Brien’s staff may not want him out there for every kick. There are a number of guys to look out for who may take up some of those reps, including grad transfer RB Treshaun Ward out of Kansas State and freshman RB Turbo Richard, who both have shown some good flashes in the return game on their previous teams.
Other names to keep an eye on are returning BC wide receiver Jayden McGowan and cornerback Amari Jackson.
Boston College ‘24 RB commit Turbo Richards (@TurboRichard1) takes a punt return to the house this weekend.
— A.J. Black (@AJBlack247) September 18, 2023