Not many college football players make their first career appearance in a bowl game.
But South Carolina place kicker/punter Michael Almond did and he rose to the occasion.
With starting punter Sean Kelly injured, the redshirt freshman Almond made his first career punt in the Birmingham Bowl. He learned he was punting for the first time when he arrived to the Gamecocks’ hotel three days before the game.
Almond, who walked on to the team in 2015, said he was initially very nervous, but his performance proved otherwise. In two punts, he averaged 44 yards, with his longest traveling 48.