We close out our look at the Tar Heels 2024 position rooms with the special teams group, which is looking to improve over what we saw last year where every unit outside of placekicking and punt return struggled. The staff is hoping that more depth on the two sides of the football will allow the team’s best players to be more involved in special teams and lead to marked improvements across the board.
Senior placekicker Noah Burnette is back following a breakout season where he earned second team All-ACC honors after nailing 19 of his 20 field goal attempts and all 43 of his extra point attempts. There was a little concern about him in the spring after some struggles with consistency, but the hope is that he can find it again here in fall camp. With some of the uncertainties that the team has on offense heading into the season, they need him to be someone they can rely on again this season.
Alijah Huzzie will once again return punts after a very solid showing back there last season which earned his All-ACC honorable mention as a specialist. He returned just seven punts the entire season, but he averaged 16.0 yards per return and found the endzone against Pittsburgh, the first punt return touchdown for the program since 2018. He should be a weapon again this season for the Tar Heels back there on punts.
At kick returner, Chris Culliver will be the starter after showing some nice promise in the bowl game against West Virginia. He returned five kicks for 105 yards, including ripping off a 35-yard return, the second-longest kick return of the season for the team. The hope is that he can build upon that performance and give the team a legitimate threat at kick returner.
Long snapper also appears to be in good hands despite the graduation of punt return snapper Drew Little. Senior Spencer Triplett is back after handling all placekicking snaps last year and sophomore Garrett Jordan looks primed to take over for Little with punts. True freshman Grant Mills is also waiting in the wings if needed.
Kickoff specialist Liam Boyd is also back after a solid first season handling that role for the Tar Heels. 49 of his 66 kickoffs went for touchbacks last year, a number that the staff would like to see him improve on, especially with the struggles the kick coverage unit had.
The biggest question mark is at punter where Tom Maginness is back after a less than stellar season after replacing the injured Ben Kiernan. He averaged just 39.8 yards per punt a year ago and reportedly had a rough spring as well. He simply has to improve in fall camp or he could lose the job to a newcomer.
That newcomer is Lucas Osada, one of the top ranked kickers and punters in the 2024 class who joined the team this summer. Last year as a senior in high school, he averaged 45.3 yards per punt and had 32 of his 37 kickoffs go for touchbacks, proving he can handle those roles for the Tar Heels right away if needed. Placekicking might be a different story after he went 8-of-13 on field goals last year.
The coverage units are the other area of this unit that has to improve this year. The punt coverage unit allowed three punts to be blocked last year, including the one that eventually led to the season-ending injury for Kiernan. The kick return unit allowed 25.5 yards per return, the third-worst mark in the country last year.
Projected Depth Chart
PK
#98 Noah Burnette, Sr.
#37 Liam Boyd, So.
P
#96 Tom Maginness, Jr.
#97 Lucas Osada, Fr.
LS
#62 Spencer Triplett, Sr.-K
#43 Garrett Jordan, So.-P
#61 Grant Mills, Fr.
KR
# 3 Chris Culliver, So.
PR
#28 Alijah Huzzie, Sr.
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