The Jackrabbits special teams improved in 2022 and will look to take another jump in 2023. Jimmy Rogers did something new with the special teams group and hired a dedicated special teams coordinator in Pat Cashmore. I was able to talk to Cashmore and he shared some of his philosophy on special teams. He credits Coach Rogers for assembling an awesome staff and one that values the role of special teams. He also shared that he has really enjoyed Brookings and the SDSU community so far.
The obvious key piece to this unit is #10 Hunter Dustman (6-3, 230, SR) who serves as the teams punter and kicker. Dustman had a good year doing both but his punting really stood out while he averaged 42.6 yards per punt with a long of 55. He had just 2 touchbacks and forced 17 to be fair caught while landing 14 inside the 20. The big negative is that there were 3 punts blocked throughout the season. Opponents did average 11 yards on 18 returns and had a long of 61. This will hopefully be tightened up this season.
On kickoffs, Dustman averaged 56.2 yards per kick on 85 attempts. He had 31 touchbacks and opponents started on average on their own 28 yard line. The kick coverage units were also okay with opponents averaging 21.8 yards per return with a long return of 69 yards.
On extra points and field goals, Dustman improved as the season went along. He was perfect on extra points (59-59) and 18 of 25 on FGs. Three of the misses came in one game (Missouri State) while another was a blocked kick. Dustman was perfect from 30 and in but 0-3 from 50+ with a long of 45.
#99 Jack Green (6-3, 195, SO) and #96 Jackson Isakson (6-2, 190, FR) join Dustman in the specialist room. I’d love to see one them emerge to take over kickoff duties for Hunter just to take away some of the pressure and wear and tear on the leg. Green is a kicker and Isakson is combo guy according to Cashmore. He has the same idea and hopes that if games are out of hand, Green can handle kickoffs and Isakson can punt.
This year the long snapping duties will belong to #50 Kaydon Olivia (6-0, 220, SO) who is transferring in from Texas State. Olivia started at Texas State as the primary field goal snapper and does have experience snapping punts too. Olivia has really good speed on his snaps and should improve the overall mechanics of the special teams units. Previous snapper Jaden Mueller injured his knee in the spring season and just never fully recovered. He made the decision this off season to step away from football.
We know how deep the safety, cornerback, linebacker, wide receiver, and tight end groups are. This depth is significant because many of these guys will comprise the corp of special teams. Travel rosters will be filled out with guys who can be trusted to do their job on special teams units. Guys I expect to make a difference on coverage units include: Kevin Brenner, Matt Durrance, Daeton Mcgagughy, David Alpers, Greyton Gannon, Bryce Johnson, Aaron Kusler, Adam Kusler, Davion Sterner, Joe Ollman, Cullen McShane, Trevor Scott, Aydan Dautermann, Jalen Lee, Myles Taylor, and Steve Arrell. Cashmore wouldn’t go into who would be on the coverage units but this is my best guess given how the teams are built and who showed out last year.
Guys who may compete to return punts and kicks would be Jadon and Jaxon Janke, Amar Johnson, Angel Johnson, Ky Oday Jr. and Marcus Preston. Again, Cashmore did not go in depth on this but these are guys who did it last year for the Jackrabbits or were standouts in their prep careers. Kick returns in particular are an area where the Jacks need to improve in 2022. The team averaged just 18 yards per return in 2022.
I’m excited to see the difference Coach Cashmore makes! Special teams was definitely the weak link on last years team. Can it become a strength this year? I think so!
Go Jacks!
Matt