COLUMBIA — South Carolina football takes the field for its season opener in 17 days, and according to punter Kai Kroeger, working with new special teams coach Joe DeCamillis has been nothing short of productive.

DeCamillis was named associate head coach/special teams coordinator for the Gamecocks in late January. For the 2023 season, DeCamillis was on Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Texas as special assistant to the head coach, his first job in college football after his 34-year coaching career in the NFL. He won two Super Bowls, one with the Denver Broncos and one with the Los Angeles Rams and made seven AFC or NFC championship appearances.

Now, he's on coach Shane Beamer's staff, and it seems like against Old Dominion on Aug. 31, (4:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network), the special teams unit will be well prepared.

"He's been amazing for us, both as specialists and for our team," Kroeger said Wednesday. "He's a genius, his experience in the NFL is unmatched. He's been able to give me a ton of drills to help with my technique that I've already seen helping tremendously."

DeCamillis came to South Carolina after Peter Lembo left the Gamecocks to take the head coaching job at Buffalo. In 2022 under Lembo, with Kroeger as a instrumental part of the special teams, Lembo's unit was one of the highest rated special teams groups in college football. Lembo was named Phil Steele's Special Teams Coach of the Year in 2022.

The same year, Kroeger was the SEC's second-best punter, finishing with an average of 46.1 yards per punt, 1.8 yards behind Florida's Jeremy Crawshaw. In 2023, he took a step down, finishing No. 7 in the conference and averaged 43.2 yards per punt. South Carolina averaged 17.6 yards per kick return, the second worst in the SEC.

Kroeger said DeCamillis provided specific drills that helped with his elbow placement and technique. An issue for him last year was that he didn't have his left elbow tucked closely enough to his side; instead the elbow was slanted. That caused him to drop the ball inside his left shoulder, which led him to swing across his body with the ball hitting the side of his left foot. He's been working on it since the end of last year.

In preseason practices, Kroeger has been splitting punts with freshman Mason Love — mainly to get the young player some reps. Kroeger, a fifth-year player, will be the Gamecocks' punter. After spending the offseason going over mistakes in 2023, studying where he underperformed, Kroeger now wants to use his new coach's extensive experience to get back to the way he punted in 2022.

"We have a great relationship," Kroeger said of the two. "I'm always going to him to ask if I can watch guys that he's coached or anything, technique-wise. What he's doing for our team in terms of his philosophies and how he's having our guys attack certain things has been great."

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Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football punter Kai Kroeger is getting boost from elbow