Gamecocks' Lanning, Doerr in dead heat for punting job

By Byn Patrick Obley - Byn Patrick Obley

COLUMBIA -- If USC's various special teams units didn't know what was in store for them in the Ray Rychleski era, the night of Aug. 7 filled in the blanks.

In a driving rain, Rychleski mercilessly worked the units through various drills. He often let them know what he thought of their effort.

"This is the best thing that could happen to us: hard rain," Rychleski said that night. "Our guys didn't handle it very well. We should have handled it better. We dropped the ball. We just tried to get through it instead of taking advantage of a really good practice day for specialists."

Nearly two weeks later, Rychleski sees a glimmer of hope.

"The progress is encouraging," he said.

Special teams have been held responsible in the court of public opinion for a few of USC's more notable pratfalls the past two seasons. Blocked kicks wrecked a potential upset of Florida at the Swamp in 2006. Last season, three blocked punts during the final two games put the finishing touches on a five-game slide.

The good news? Beyond the blocking woes, the Gamecocks held their own in 2007.

Thanks largely to Chris Culliver, USC ranked third in the SEC in kickoff return average. Captain Munnerlyn helped boost the Gamecocks to fifth in SEC punt return average.

Ryan Succop's strong leg lifted USC's kickoff coverage to third in the league, and his 11 touchbacks were second-most.

All three return, and, with Rychleski pulling the strings and better athletes plugging the holes, USC's special teams should make more noise in 2008.

At the heart of Rychleski efforts is Succop. Rychleski wants to relieve Succop of punting duties so he can focus on his strengths: field goals and kickoffs.

"I am committed to not having Ryan do all three and see how that works out," Rychleski said.

Incoming freshman Ryan Doerr and sophomore Spencer Lanning, a former York Comprehensive High standout, are competing at punter. Early in the preseason, neither distinguished themselves. Now, both appear to be coming into focus.

"Right now, I think we're pretty much committed to Doerr or Lanning punting in the first game," Rychleski said. "Probably both of them."

In Saturday's scrimmage, both candidates looked good. Lanning averaged 44 yards on his punts; Doerr planted one inside the 1-yard line.

"It's a daily tryout process, one day to the next, who's doing better," Rychleski said. "We've been getting it off pretty good, but who knows -- the lights haven't gone on yet. Who knows what Spencer Lanning and Ryan Doerr are going to do on that first real punt?"

For his part, Doerr said he does not see much separation

between himself and Lanning.

"We're neck-and-neck," Doerr said. "We're both out there doing some really good punting, but every once in a while, we'll shank."

Culliver and Munnerlyn are locked in at their respective return positions. Akeem Auguste is backing up Munnerlyn on punt returns, and Munnerlyn is backing up Culliver on kickoffs.

Whatever the final rotation ends up being when USC takes the field on Aug. 28, the Gamecocks had better be prepared for anything, especially rain. Rychleski is convinced days such as Aug. 7 could make or break USC's season.

"When I was at Maryland two years ago, we beat Florida State because we handled the weather conditions better than they did. They outgained us by 200 yards," Rychleski said. "We've got to be tougher mentally in situations like that."