BEAUMONT, Texas – An entire offseason, and now preseason camp, have come and gone since Lamar made its run to the 2025 NCAA FCS Playoffs. Throughout camp LamarCardinals.com has been doing position breakdowns and sadly we are down to our final one before Lamar takes the field Saturday to host No. 15 Abilene Christian.
 
Today LamarCardinals.com will break down the LU specialists. 
 
Special Team Quick Facts:
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 4/5
Starters Returning/Lost: 4/2
Newcomers: 2

Stats: As a group, Lamar's special teams in 2025 were just that … special! From long punt and kickoff returns to blocked kicks that led to scores, Big Red's special teams consistently flipped momentum on its opponents. In the return game, LU was second in kick returns (and produced a Freshman All-American) and fourth in punts (that number dropped precipitously when teams realized that the only way to not get burned by Kyndon Fuselier was to simply not punt to him). The Cardinals ranked second in the Southland in kickoffs and PATs, third in field goals and fourth in punting. As a team last year, Lamar won five SLC Special Teams Player of the Week awards.
 
Key Player: LaDamion McDowell – this is really unfair to name a "key player" in this "position group" because your specialists all do very different tasks but McDowell is a returning Freshman All-American and it is pretty hard to argue with that.
 
The Storyline
While Lamar returns the bulk of its specialists from last season, the Cardinals did suffer All-SLC losses including kicker Ben Woodard who came up big for Lamar with multiple 50-plus yard kicks during his career. With that being said, Lamar returns sophomore Mason Stallons at punter (and holder), Jacob Hefner at deep snapper and McDowell (return specialist).
 
McDowell has big-play ability – which most folks could guess considering he was a Freshman All-American. He should be a threat for Lamar coming out of the backfield as well. He ended the year second in the league in kick return yards (510) while averaging 23.2 yards per return.
 
Stallons was solid in his first year as the team's punter. He averaged better than 40 yards per punt on 54 attempts and ended the year with five punts of at least 50 yards while downing 16 inside the opponent's 20. It's safe to assume that those numbers will only climb this season.
 
The individual who set up Stallons (and Woodard) last season was Jacob Hefner. One in a long line of accurate deep snappers to come through the Golden Triangle, Hefner was the model of consistency for the Red and White. Deep snapper, or long snapper – whichever term you use to label the position – is an unforgiving positions. There are no stats for the deep snapper, and it is a position that receives little if any recognition from fans, little all-conference recognition or All-America honors, and so on, but it is a position deep down that everyone notices. You can bank on that because if your team struggles at the position then everyone is talking about it. So, when no one is talking about it then that can be considered the highest form of praise. With that being said, Hefner returns from a strong 2025 season and will be joined by true freshman Jake Rainey (5-11, 180, Collierville, Tenn.). Count on this being a strong suit for LU again in 2026.
 
Despite the loss of Woodard, the Cardinals have four kickers on the roster – Stallons, Jackson Cooper, Declan Mullins and Andres Sandoval. Cooper and Sandoval return from redshirt seasons while Mullins makes his way to LU from the California high school scene. Sandoval came out of camp as the team's most consistent kicker while Mullins may have the strongest leg. Coming out of the Chris Sailer Kicking Camp, Mullins was rated as a kicker with 50-yard plus strength in his leg. The coaching staff also believes that Cooper is extremely talented and has a bright future with the Cardinals.
 
While McDowell should have another big year returning kicks, the Cardinals have several speedy skill guys who will have an impact in the return game. This group includes receivers Blake Thomas (5-11, 192, So.) and Jaydn Girard (6-0, 190, Sr.) and corner Caleb Holmes (5-7, 159, So.) among others.
 
All in all, the special teams should be just that … special. In three short seasons with Lamar, Pete Rossomando has produced 20 Southland Conference Players of the Week and 13 of those have come on special teams. We at LamarCardinals.com only see Lamar adding those numbers this season.
 
Let the countdown begin! The start to a new season is just a few hours away.