Tigers Football Insider: Field goal kicking should improve this season
David Kemp kicks a point during the Memphis Tigers spring scrimmage at Centennial High School on April 02, 2022 in Franklin, Tennessee. (Harrison McClary/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
Welcome back to the Tigers Football Insider, where we bring you the latest news and analysis from The Daily Memphian’s Frank Bonner II, Geoff Calkins and John Martin each week.
Memphis had its struggles kicking field goals last year, but the Tigers should be much better in that area this season.
Kicker David Kemp suffered an injury ahead of his freshman season and it took a while for him to find his footing once he came back. Punter Joe Doyle took over the field-goal kicking for much of the season.
After scoring on all five of his attempts in the season opener, Doyle went 2-of-7 the rest of the year. He finished the season 7-of-12 and was successful on 30 of his 32 extra-point attempts. Kemp missed two of his three field goals and was successful on 3-of-5 extra-point attempts in his first two games back.
He ended the year by successfully kicking all four of his field goals in the final two games and was 4-of-4 on extra points. That is a good sign for the redshirt freshman entering this season. The field goal issues caused coach Ryan Silverfield to be a little more aggressive at times on fourth downs because he wasn’t confident in the kicking staff to get three points.
Based on how Kemp kicked the ball in the final two games, fans can assume that Silverfield will be able to rely on the kicking staff a lot more than he did last season. The Tigers were successful on 63% of field goals last year which was down from the 68% in 2020 and nowhere near the 92% field-goal kicking in 2019.
Kicking above 90% for the season is a tall task but Kemp should be able score to points on at least 70% of kicks this year. Eight of the Tigers’ 12 games last season were decided by less than a touchdown so getting the kicking game figured out is important when trying to win the close ones.
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David Diehl will join the Tigers’ coaching staff as a quality control coach.
Kickoff times set for five Memphis football games, AutoZone Liberty Bowl
The five Tigers games are afternoon or early evening kickoffs; the AutoZone Liberty Bowl will be at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 28.
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Memphis Tigers Memphis Tigers Football Tigers Football InsiderFrank Bonner II
Frank Bonner is the Memphis Tigers football beat writer. He is originally from Indiana but arrived in Memphis after spending two years in Tulsa, covering Oklahoma State football and basketball. He covered high school sports in Columbus, Indiana for two years before getting his Master’s degree in Sports Journalism at IUPUI. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University.
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