Spring Storylines: Do the Ducks have a kicker?

It feels almost incomprehensible considering the start of the February signing period was just a few short weeks ago, but ready or not, the unofficial start of the 2019 season is right around the corner.

March 9 marks the beginning of spring football for the Ducks, and similar to last year, the Ducks will have a short break in the middle of spring practices to account for events on the academic calendar, culminating with the annual spring game on April 20.

As we count down the dwindling days leading up to the start of practices, WFOD takes a closer look at the primary storylines unfolding at each position and sets expectations for head coach Mario Cristobal and company as spring arrives.

Today, our Spring Storylines series concludes with a look at special teams.

Do the Ducks have a kicker?

The search for Aidan Schneider‘s replacement enters its second season.

Oh, sure, the Ducks had an actual physical replacement for him in 2018, as Adam Stack got his crack at following one of the most reliable right foots in school history. But if Stack’s sophomore season and the lingering concerns around his capabilities entering 2019 are any indication, the search for Oregon’s next placekicker is still well underway.

Indeed, the year 2018 was one fraught with inconsistency at kicker for the Ducks. Ranked as one of the top kickers on the West Coast in the 2017 class, Stack saw his first action as Oregon’s top placekicking option last season after spending his true freshman year as the Ducks’ punter. And as mentioned, it was a roller coaster experience for the Honolulu native, who converted only 6-of-10 field goal attempts and demonstrated limited range on attempts of 40 yards or more. In fact, Stack’s longest made field goal of year was only 39 yards, putting Oregon in a precarious position when it came to securing points when field goals were required.

In fairness to Stack, some of his struggles last season can be explained by a lingering lower body injury that has pestered the rising junior dating back to last year. The injury caused Stack to miss the first three games of 2018 and never seemed to completely improve even after he returned to action for the Pac-12 opener versus Stanford.

Unfortunately, Stack has been unable to shake the injury big, as Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal stated Monday that Stack would be nursing a hernia once spring practices commence this Saturday. With Stack presumably limited as practice begins, it means that competition at placekicker will be even more open than it otherwise would have been had Stack been deemed full go.

With that, the first name Duck fans should acquaint themselves with at the position is redshirt junior walk-on Zach Emerson. A native of Bend, Emerson redshirted in 2016 and didn’t see any action in 2017 before assuming the role of kickoff specialist for the Ducks in 2018. The bad news is, Emerson ranked last in the conference in touchbacks and was tenth in average kickoff distance (61.79 yards per kickoff). Additionally, his lone field goal attempt last season was blocked, raising questions as to whether he’s a viable answer in either role in 2019.

The other assumed contender for placekicking duties is true freshman Camden Lewis, who won’t arrive on campus until later this spring.

Formerly a verbal commit to Minnesota, Lewis flipped to Oregon just days before the early signing period in December. However, despite ranking as the nation’s fourth-best kicker per 247Sports’ Composite Rankings, Lewis has seemingly had accuracy issues of his own. According to MaxPreps, Lewis converted only 13-of-27 field goals attempts (long of 52) during his career at William Amos Hough High School in Cornelius, North Carolina.