Oregon State Football 2022 Position Analysis: Special Teams

With the 2022 Oregon State football season now firmly in the rearview, BeaversEdge kicks off the first of an article series analyzing how each position group fared throughout the season!

Up next in our position analysis is special teams!

Note: Only scholarship players are listed

Who's Gone?

Luke Loecher, Punter

Jack Colletto, All-Purpose Special Teams

Who's Back?

K Everett Hayes, Sr.

P Josh Green, Sr.

LS Dylan Black, Jr.

PR - Anthony Gould, Jr. or Jesiah Irish, Sr.

KR - Silas Bolden, Jr. & Irish

2022 Special Teams' Analysis

In a season where Oregon State won 10 games for just the third time in program history, the play of the special teams' unit under the direction of Jake Cookus was a big reason why.

Except for the kicking game (more on that later), this group was quite good in 2022 as they helped provide the Beavers with great opportunities to flip field position and make game-changing plays...

Starting with the return game, Oregon State flexed its muscle with Anthony Gould and Silas Bolden this season as the duo became the first pair of Pac-12 teammates to earn first and second-team honors, respectively, in the same season.

Gould was also tabbed as an All-American for his efforts as a returner in 2022...

Bolden took the majority of the kickoff returns this season, averaging 27.2 yards per return, leading the Pac-12 and earning the sixth-best mark in the country...

Gould handled the punt return duties and led the nation in punt return yards at 18.3 yards per return and scored two punt return touchdowns.

The punting game with Luke Loecher was stellar this season, as he earned Pac-12 Honorable Mention despite not punting enough to qualify for the Pac-12/national rankings.

Loecher punted 36 times (just under three per game) and averaged 46.2 yards per punt.

14 punts were downed inside the '20, and 11 were 50 yards or more. If he qualified, Loecher's 46.2-yard average would have led the Pac-12. He'll leave Corvallis as one of the more accomplished punters in program history, as his career 46.0 average was the best at OSU...

Per PFF, OSU finished with an overall special teams grade of 80.5, which was fourth-best in the Pac-12 and tied for 30th-best nationally.

Additionally, the Beavers blocked two kicks and two punts this season as a special teams unit...

Replacing Jack Colletto will also be no easy feat for Cookus' group as he did a lot on ST that didn't necessarily show up in the box score... He was all over the field and it'll likely take a group effort to replace his immense production...

If there was an area of deficiency for this group, it was undoubtedly the kicking game as the Beavers finished last in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage, making just 55% of kicks this season.

Everett Hayes went 6-for-13 (46.2%) on the year, while Atticus Sappington hit 5-for-7 (71.4%). Hayes went 33-fo-35 on PAT's while Sappington went 15-for-16...

Some of Hayes' struggles can be attributed to the groin injury he was dealing with for most of the campaign, but unfortunately, Sappington didn't necessarily have the leg to seize the job despite hitting a good percentage of his kicks.

Josh Green will step into the role of starting punter, and based on what we've seen in practices the past couple of seasons, should be more than capable of holding his own and maintaining the strong punting game we saw with Loecher...

Despite the down season, Hayes will likely have the inside track to the starting kicking job next season as he offers the most experience and upside of what we've seen so far.

Overall, there's a good amount to like about this group heading into 2023. The core of the return game is back, and the punting game appears to be in pretty good shape with Green taking the reins.

However, there's no question the Beavers have to take a step forward in the kicking game as finishing last place in the conference in field goal percentage is almost certainly going to catch up with you. Look for OSU to focus on field goals a lot during spring and fall practices...