COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -No. 25 South Carolina wasn’t sure how well its kicking game would hold up with all-Southeastern Conference kicker-punter Ryan Succop off to the NFL.
So far, Spencer Lanning has barely missed a beat, or a kick, for the Gamecocks.
“I’m pretty excited just to be out there on the field,” Lanning said. “You have no idea what a rush it is.”
Especially this season for the former walk-on coach Steve Spurrier once called “the man with two last names.”
Lanning missed his first try of the season at North Carolina State. He’s made everything since, hitting his last 10 straight as the Gamecocks (4-1, 1-1 SEC) prepare for Kentucky (2-2, 0-2) on Saturday.
His 10 field goals are tied for first in the SEC and sixth most in the Football Championship Subdivision. Lanning is five kicks away from Colin Mackie’s South Carolina all-time mark of 15 straight set in 1987 and 1988.
Lanning handled punting chores last season, averaging better than 42 yards a kick, so Succop, a standout at both disciplines, could concentrate solely on place-kicking in his final year. Succop, the NFL draft’s Mr. Irrelevant as the final player selected last April, is starting for Kansas City.
South Carolina’s kicking game looks just fine in the Lanning’s confident right leg.
“It’s funny how they say that everything works out for a reason,” Lanning said this week. “It’s kind of wild that I ended up here.”
Lanning was a rising soccer player at York High School when a knee injury restricted his movement – and finally got him to listen to then football coach Steve Boyd to kick for the team.
“We always knew he was athletic and we thought he could help,” Boyd said, now the school’s athletic director.
Lanning was an all-state selection as a senior and kicked the winning field goal for the North in an 11-10 victory at the state’s North-South All-Star Game. Lanning chose to walk on at South Carolina, despite knowing he’d have to wait behind Succop.
“That probably turned to be a big advantage for Spencer,” said Boyd, his high school coach.
Lanning agreed. Succop was one of the most talented and humble people he’d ever met, Lanning said. Lanning picked up tips on kicking technique along with general life lessons from the former Gamecock star.
anning, who considers Succop among his closest friends. “For me to even be compared to him is just unreal.”
Lanning, who earned a scholarship this fall, has made a name for himself this season for more than just his kicks.
His tackle of Ole Miss’ Marshay Green on a second-quarter punt return may have saved South Carolina’s 16-10 victory over the then-fourth-ranked Rebels.
“I just sort of grabbed him and held on for dear life,” Lanning said.
Spurrier recalls his assistants sitting upstairs on the headsets thinking Green was gone for the touchdown. Instead, South Carolina got the ball back a few plays later when the Rebels’ fake field-goal play came up short.
Lanning got a game ball for the stop, which Spurrier considered a game-changer.
“There’s so many different plays out there that that could be potentially game-changing plays, for that to be considered a game-changing tackle or anything is a little odd,” Lanning said. “At the time, I didn’t know what it was. It was just a play that had to be made.”
Lanning is very good at take direction, too.
m options for the Gamecocks.
Lanning said special teams coach Shane Beamer was white as a ghost, while first-year strength coach Craig Fitzgerald thought he’d be fired. Soon enough, Spurrier let everyone in on the joke.
The snow job was certainly convincing. Lanning says players still ask how his hamstring’s doing.
Spurrier’s satisfied with all facets of Lanning’s play.
“We had confidence that Spencer would do a very good job and certainly he had,” the coach said. “He kicked well all preseason. He’s a solid person.”
Boyd, the York AD, knows has seen that last part up close. He’s kept up with his former kicker and left him a voice mail recently about how far he’s come from a nothing-but-soccer attitude to one of the SEC’s most consistent kicker who was pictured on one of South Carolina’s tickets this season.
“I told him he’d come a long way from not wanting to play to having his picture on a ticket,” Boyd said. “We’re very proud of what he’s done.”
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