Welcome to part three of my three part “Five things to look for in Stanford fall camp” series. After taking a look at the offense and defense, I will close with the special teams. Let’s go!
READ: Five things to look for in Stanford fall camp: Offense
READ: Five things to look for in Stanford fall camp: Defense
#1. Can Emmet Kenney take on the mantle from Josh Karty? With Josh Karty getting drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, Emmet Kenney has to take on that mantle of being the team’s placekicker. Ultimately, we won’t really know what Stanford has in Kenney until we see him kick on game days, but this fall camp period will still give us a window into how he’s doing and handling the new pressures that come with being the primary placekicker on the team.
#2. Can Aidan Flintoft take the reins at punter? Sophomore Aidan Flintoft will be in a punting competition with senior Connor Weselman. From what I’ve observed, Flintoft should win this battle and become the primary punter for the team. While the punting battle likely won’t be resolved before fall camp is over, this fall camp period will still give us a window into where things are heading. Hopefully for Stanford, Flintoft wins this battle because I really don’t have much faith in Weselman. No disrespect to him whatsoever, but I’ve seen him shank some punts that make it hard for me to envision him seeing much playing time this season.
#3. Does Alejandro Chavez emerge in the long snapping rotation? Stanford has two long snappers in junior Peyton Warford and redshirt sophomore Alejandro Chavez. Warford saw action last season on punts while Chavez didn’t see any action at all. It’ll be interesting to see if Chavez can emerge in the rotation on field goals after not appearing in a game in either of his first two seasons on The Farm. We obviously won’t get a clear answer on that until games start being played, but this fall camp period will give us a window into where things are trending on that front.
#4. Who returns kicks and punts? Stanford has a lot of speedy options out there in Bryce Farrell, Chase Farrell, Chris Davis Jr., Cole Tabb, and others. I’ll be interested to see who ends up handling most of the return duties on both kickoffs and punts. Even if that position doesn’t get settled during fall camp, this is a critical period for Stanford to figure out who they want in those spots. That is not a position you want to be shuffling around.
#5. How much more settled in does Bob Gregory feel in his role as special teams coach? In addition to being the safeties coach, Bob Gregory is also the special teams coordinator. With a year under his belt in both roles, I’ll be interested to learn more about how Gregory is feeling about his special teams duties and if he’s made any changes to how he approaches overseeing two different rooms.
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