Kai Kroeger Named Preseason Second-Team AP All-American

University of South Carolina’s punter Kai Kroeger has been named a preseason second-team All-American by the Associated Press, it was announced today.

Kroeger, a 6-4, 212-pound senior from Lake Forest, Ill., earned first-team All-America honors from ESPN.com and The Athletic in 2022, and second-team honors from Walter Camp and AFCA, after averaging 46.1 yards per punt, including a net of 42.8 yards. The first-team All-SEC punter boomed 18 punts of 50 or more yards, including a career-long 79-yard bomb against Georgia State. Twenty-nine of his 58 punts (50 percent) were downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.

Kroeger was one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award last season, which recognizes the nation’s top punter. He was listed on “Ray’s 8” six times during the year and was the Ray Guy National Punter of the Week following his efforts in the season opener against Georgia State.

Kroeger and the Gamecocks will open the 2023 season in Charlotte on Saturday, Sept. 2, when South Carolina faces North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. Game time is set for 7:30 pm at Bank of America Stadium and the contest will be televised nationally on ABC.