Heel Tough Blog: 2025 Position Previews- ST

Anthony Pagnotta
3 days ago
3 min read

It’s that time of year again, folks. With the season fast approaching, it is time to give you a preview of what this roster is going to look like this upcoming season under new coach Bill Belichick. Today, we close out our look at this year’s roster by discussing a room that remained relatively stable this offseason all things considered, the special teams unit.

The one big change to the unit is at the kicker spot where Noah Burnette has departed and Marshall transfer Rece Verhoff is expected to take over the role. Verhoff spent the last three years as Marshall's starting kicker, kicking in 37 of the team’s 39 games during that stretch. It started in 2022 as a freshman where he nailed 33 of his 35 extra points and went 13 of his 20 field goal attempts. He followed that up in 2023 by nailing all 32 of his extra point attempts, but hit just 11 of his 18 field goal attempts. This past season, as a junior, he once again hit every extra point attempt that he looked at and was more accurate on field goals, hitting 14 of his 19 attempts. He will have to earn the starting role at both placekicker and kickoff specialist in fall camp, but his experience should give him a decent edge going in.

His challenge will be fending off true freshman Guytano Bartolomeo, who will also be joining the team in the fall. Bartolomeo hails from Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, NJ where he handled the kicking duties for each of the past three seasons. He hit 143 of his 145 PAT attempts and 11 of his 16 field goals with a long of 41. He also handled kickoffs in his final two seasons with 60 of his 127 kickoffs registering as touchbacks. He will need a strong showing in fall camp if he is going to find a way to overtake Verhoff.

At punter, Tom Maginness returns for his third season with the team and is hoping to be more effective than he has been in his first two seasons. After averaging just 39.8 yards per punt in 2022 on 33 punts, Maginness was only able to improve slightly, increasing his average to 41.1 yards per punt on 51 attempts. The team needs him to be able to flip field position at a much higher rate this season and resemble some of the punters before him who were much more consistent.

Maginness will have some pressure to perform this year after the team went out and got Eastern Illinois transfer Jacob Horvath in the spring portal. This past year, as a sophomore, he was named a second team All-Big South/OVC after he averaged 44.1 yards per punt, landed twelve inside the 20 and booted 15 over 50 yards on his 54 punts. If Maginness continues to struggle, don’t be shocked if this staff goes to Horvath at some point.

At kick returner, Chris Culliver is back to handle the role after an explosive finish to last year. While he may have only returned five kicks, he turned that into 242 yards and two touchdowns, an average of 48.4 yards per return. The hope is that he will be able to return more kicks this season and continue to be just as effective in the process. Javarius Green will be a nice backup option if needed.

At punt returner, the team is expected to role with Will Hardy, a safe, rather unspectacular, option. He handled the role in the bowl game, but did not return a punt, meaning we should expect him to be very conservative with his returns. Don’t be shocked if the Tar Heels look at some other options here, as well.

Spencer Triplett is back to handle the long snapper duties after doing so a year ago. This will be the third consecutive year that he has snapped for field goals and PATs and the second year of him snapping on punts.

Florida transfer Gannon Burt will provide depth at the long snapper spot and will be preparing to take over the role starting next season.

Projected Depth Chart:

#90 Rece Verhoff, Sr.

#97 Guytano Bartolomeo, Fr.

#96 Tom Maginness, Sr.

#93 Jacob Horvath, Jr.

KOS

#90 Rece Verhoff, Sr.

#97 Guytano Bartolomeo, Fr.

#42 Spencer Triplett, Sr.

#48 Gannon Burt, So.

#96 Tom Maginness, Sr.