Texas A&M football: 4 takeaways from resilient win over South Carolina
By Jeff Shull
Braden Mann continues winning ways
Braden Mann missed making it a third straight SEC Special Teams Player of the Week thanks to LSU’s kicker making five field goals in their upset win over Georgia. He booted four punts for 204 yards but actually made one of the plays of the game with a tackle.
On one of his punts in the first half, the South Carolina return man got loose down the sideline. In stepped Mann with the hit that caused a fumble and gave A&M the ball around midfield. They unfortunately missed a field goal but it was nonetheless a tone setter for the defense in the first half.
Mann is having a historic season for a punter. He is averaging 54.5 yards per punt on 27 attempts so far. The NCAA record in a season is 49.8 on 40 attempts. He booted another 60-yarder on Saturday which tied the single-season record for 60+ yard punts at 13 total. He is on track to be a First Team All American (duh) and will more than likely be drafted in the 2019 NFL Draft should he declare.
Teams were already afraid of Braden Mann the punter, now they have to be afraid of Braden Mann the tackler.