Position battle at kicker 'dead even' according to Oregon special teams coach Joe Lorig

The Oregon football team is still determining its kickoff specialist for the 2024 season, special teams coach Joe Lorig announced during a media availability on Friday.

"That's something we chart every day," Lorig said. "Obviously tomorrow being our first scrimmage will be a big factor into that too, but we actually went and looked at the charts last night and it's almost dead even right now."

According to Lorig, senior Andrew Boyle, junior Atticus Sappington and redshirt freshman Grant Meadors all stand a chance of kicking off in the Ducks' season-opener against Idaho on Aug. 31.

"I think the next couple of weeks will really provide some clarification for us," Lorig said. "(All three) are really, really good."

Lorig says he and the other coaches will ultimately determine their starter based on in-practice charts of their kicks.

"Every three days we go into Autzen, we chart kicks and it's pretty simple," Lorig said. "We just base it on ball location, hang time and touchback percentage, and then whoever is going to give you the best opportunity to eliminate explosive returns. We just look at the numbers."

And while Lorig will be determining his week-one starter solely on practice results, he admits that he won't be sure until he's seen his players perform in-game.

"Some guys can be really good at it in practice when no one's there and it's not the same with the fans and the distractions and all the things that come along with gameday," Lorig said. "You can't replicate going into Autzen Stadium and being on T.V. and all that stuff. It's a different kind of mental toughness and that's probably the hardest thing to evaluate.

"You really won't know until you see a guy in that situation."

While Boyle, Meadors and Sappington lead the race for week-one kickoff duties, Lorig notes that true freshman Gage Hurych, a native of nearby West Linn, Oregon, has also been impressive.

With week one rapidly approaching, the Ducks have a host of productive kickoff specialists to choose from.