Date: 8/11
Position: Special Teams
Position Coach: Joey Jones

Returning Letterwinners (Key stats): Corliss Waitman (12 GP, 17-621 yds punt, 36.5 avg., 53 long, 4 I20, 1 50+, 20 FC); Gavin Patterson (13 GP, 10-16 FG, 42-42 PAT, 72 pts); Andrew Zink (13 GP, 1-0 —1 TT)

Letterwinners lost (Key stats): Brandon McKee (12 GP, 48-2,136 yds punt, 44.5 avg., 74 long, 25 I20, 15 50+); Dami Ayoola (17 att., 71 yards, 4.2 avg. [punt], 5 att., 81 yards, 16.2 avg. [kick return]).

Newcomers (Yr., Previous school): Frankie Onate (Fr., Trinity Christian Academy); Matt Smith (Fr., Trinity Christian School)

Miscellaneous Notes
-Place-kicker Gavin Patterson led the Jags in scoring — and was ninth in the Sun Belt in points per game — with 72 points after making all 42 extra-point tries to go along with 10 field goals.  He also had an average of 58.9 yards on kickoffs with nine touchbacks on 54 kicks.  Patterson was named preseason fourth-team all-Sun Belt Conference by Athlon Sports.
-South led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked third nationally in punt return defense allowing just 2.00 yards per return.
-Punter Brandon McKee — a second-team all-league selection in 2016 — led the SBC with a 44.50 average, which was also 12th-best in the NCAA.  McKee had over half of his points (25) downed inside the 20 yard line and posted 15 punts of 50-plus, including a career long of 74 against Troy.
-Corliss Waitman is expected to take over the punting duties this fall.  He was chosen preseason fourth-team all-Sun Belt Conference by Phil Steele Publications after having 20 of his punts fair caught a year ago.
-Xavier Johnson earned honorable mention honors at both the running back and return specialist positions.  Johnson led USA in four different categories, including kickoff returns (523) and all-purpose yards (1,440), pacing the Sun Belt in the latter category.  He was also among the top 10 in the conference in kickoff return average.
-Johnson's all-purpose tally was just 37 yards shy of tying the program's mark for a single-season high.  Entering the 2017 season, Johnson is just 168 all-purpose yards shy of surpassing T.J. Glover's career mark of 3,536.

Joey Jones
-On expectations of the special teams unit: "We've been pretty darn good kicking field goals throughout camp so far; we haven't missed many.  They've been very accurate and I've been pleased with our kickers.  Gavin [Patterson] and Frankie [Onate] have both done a good job with our field goals.  Corliss [Waitman] is out front right now for the punting duties; he's kicking the ball extremely well.  Our kickoff unit has been solid, but we haven't done as much work there yet.  We are kicking it around the goal line, but we need to get to where we are kicking it about five-yards deep in the end zone to be able to get touchbacks."
-On the importance of having Xavier Johnson back returning kickoffs: "Xavier is one of the best kick returners in our league.  In my opinion, we need to have him back there as much as we can."
-On Waitman being able to step in and replace the production of Brandon McKee: "Corliss has a lot of talent.  He's really worked during the offseason on being consistent this summer.  He's been very methodical about the way he punts; he's taking the same steps every time."

Gavin Patterson
-On last season's experience as the primary place-kicker: "Last year, I found out I was going to be the starter during fall camp, so I had a really short time to get ready for that.  I was pretty nervous during our first game, but I was able to get my feet under me after that game and built my confidence and comfort level out there."
-On how he has grown as a kicker during the offseason: "I've definitely been working on my consistency and it's been showing in practice.  Last season, I wasn't as consistent as I would've liked to have been, so that's something I really wanted to work on throughout the offseason."
-On the experience and the expectations of the special teams unit: "We should be a pretty good unit this season.  We've got really good kickers with Corliss and myself coming back along with our incoming freshman Frankie Onate.  Then you add in Xavier back returning kicks; when he gets a lane he's gone.  That should be a big thing for us this year."

Corliss Waitman
-On his own expectations as the primary punter this season: "Brandon [McKee] was a great punter for us last season and I learned a lot from him.  I'm the next one to step up in that position, but we have a good group of people around us, so there is always some good competition out here.  I'm just going to try to be the best punter I can be.  Coming into last season, I was coming off an injury so I wasn't really able to work on my development until camp, but I've had a whole offseason to work, so I expect a lot from myself this season."
-On what things he learned from McKee last season: "Brandon told me [kicking] is always a mental thing.  When I struggled at times last season, he was there telling me that I had to me more positive and more confident."
-On how kickers continue to push each other at practice: "We all have talent, so there's always going to be that element of competition.  Competition is a healthy thing, especially if you as an athlete want to become the best you can be.  We are all competitive and positive, but at the end of the day, we all want each other to do our best.  We are competitive, but we are still friends at the end of the day, so that makes us perform to the best of our abilities."

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