Special teams expected to shine in 2015

The Trojans began Wednesday’s practice addressing a replenished and superbly athletic special teams unit under coach Johnny Nansen. The influx of talent should dramatically improve the coverage issues from last season.

“We really value special teams play and spend a lot of time on it,” said coach Steve Sarkisian. “It showed last year in our return game, where we always want to be explosive and aggressive. But we need to develop consistency in our coverage units.”

Last year, USC had a pair of kicks blocked, allowed a scoring kickoff return and finished in the bottom five nationally in punt return defense, allowing 16.3 yards a return. They were also in the bottom 25 in net punting, averaging just 35 yards a punt and were in the bottom 30 in kickoff return defense, permitting 22.5 yards per kick.

“The number one thing that the coaches have been emphasizing this camp has been effort. We want to be more consistent on every play that we are out there,” starting redshirt senior punter Kris Albarado said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’ve been in this program for a year now under Nansen so the details are there. We just have to go out there and execute with greater effort.”

USC’s special teams is returning punter Kris Albarado, snapper Zach Smith, holder Conner Sullivan, kickoff man Alex Wood and primary kickoff returners Adoree’ Jackson and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Last season, USC averaged 9.7 yards on punt returns and 22.1 yards on kickoff returns.

With Agholor gone to the Eagles as a No. 1 pick, Jackson is now listed on top of the punt return depth chart.

“I did it in high school. It was pretty fun. I’ve seen Nelson do it, Marqise Lee do it. I just want to have fun with it,” Jackson said.

With his 684 yards on 23 returns, Jackson is already 14th on USC’s career return list. His two kickoff return touchdowns, 100 yards against Utah and 98 against Nebraska, were second nationally and his 29.7 yard-average per return was fifth. JuJu Smith had 11 returns for 132 yards, averaging 12.0 yards.

“You got to have vision,” Jackson said. “There are a lot of guys trying to wait for something to set up or wait for a cut. But if you’re looking for a cut, it could be open somewhere else. When you see something, you just have to hit it and hit it hard. The first thing I do when the ball is coming is secure it, then let’s go.”

Battling to replace Heidari, who finished his four year Trojan career kicking with a Pac-12 record 187 extra points in a Pac-12 record 193 attempts, will be junior walk-on Alex Wood, who was perfect on all 12 of his PAT tries when he was called up to fill in briefly last season.

“On a consistent basis, I’d like my range to be between 50 and 55 yards. I think that’s what we’re looking for. I think I can do that,” Wood said.

Wood’s leg strength on kickoffs clearly improved last season with 14 of his 48 kickoffs going for touchbacks and another 11 leaving opponents inside their own 20.

Wood has been named the starting kicker after a friendly competition with redshirt sophomore Matt Boermeester this offseason.

“We had a fantastic spring and are probably neck and neck,” Wood said. “It was kind of annoying, to be honest, because every time I make a kick he would come back and make one, and every time he’d make one I’d go make one, so it’s been good. It’s a good battle between us, and we’re making each other better definitely.”

There also is a pair of redshirt freshmen walk-on kickers in Wyatt Schmidt and Reid Budrovich.

Junior Zach Smith is back for his third year as USC’s snapper after filling that role on all placekicks and punts in 2014. Junior walk-on quarterback Conner Sullivan is in line to be the holder again on all placement kicks, which he handled seamlessly last year.

USC returns fifth-year senior Kris Albarado, with redshirt freshman Reid Budrovich behind him on the depth chart. After being asked to be a placement punter in 2013, Albarado raised his punting average by more than four yards to 41.4.

“Eleven more of his boots traveled at least 50 yards in 2014 on 60 punts than the previous year so the potential is there, although his percentage of punts inside the 20 declined by 7 percent,” Mike Herman of kickology.com said.

“[I am] just focusing on those details so I can be successful and the team can be successful,” Albarado said. “That is to win the field position battle to help us win the game. We want to give the same amount of effort for every single play. And that is obviously awesome effort because it’s tough to win.”

After Tuesday’s practice, Sarkisian announced that the Trojans will be also adding punter Chris Tilbey from City College of San Francisco.

Tilbey is originally from Melbourne, Australia, where he was part of the Pro Kick Australia program that has sent multiple kickers and punters to the NCAA and NFL ranks. In 13 games last year he had 54 punts with a 39.4 average, including 19 punts inside the 20.

“We’re really trying to invest into here for our future,” Sarkisian said.

Tilbey will be available to begin the season and is expected to play the next three at USC.