STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Stony Brook punter Mitchell Wright lives in Australia. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, he couldn't make it back home.

So the redshirt senior lived in Connecticut with his long snapper, Carson Tebbetts. The two specialists spent everyday working, snapping and punting, to prepare for the upcoming season.

"It was nice not having to snap the ball to my dad," Tebbetts said. "He was having a hard time catching snaps after 20 years. It was definitely helpful having Mitch at home with me for that."

Tebbetts and Wright, along with redshirt freshman kicker Angelo Guglielmello, are the three specialists on the Seawolves' special teams unit. Heading into 2021, the group is looking to build off what they learned a season ago.

For Guglielmello, 2019 was spent as a redshirt behind redshirt senior kicker Nick Courtney. The Nutley, N.J. native owns the state high school record for field goals and points scored. He used the year to acclimate to the college level while making himself stronger.

"Last year was an awesome opportunity," Guglielmello said. "To see how a fifth-year guy interacted with the team on a day-to-day basis and being behind a guy that knew the team and the atmosphere was a really big help."

Special teams coach Tony Thompson is excited about Guglielmello potential as a young kicker.

"He's got a strong leg and he's extremely accurate," Thompson said. "For him, it's just about getting adjusted to the speed of the game."

Guglielmello has tried to emulate many of the things Courtney did, including getting to practice early to get extra reps in.

"I like coming out to practice early and trying to get work in for the guys," he said. "Getting reps in with Carson and Mitch is really important too."

Wright, who serves as the placeholder on top of his punting duties, spent the offseason working on several aspects of his game.

"I'm just trying to become more consistent," Wright said. "I do a lot of different types of punts and just trying to get consistency across the board with all my different types of punts is something I've been working on."

That part of Wright's game is something that Thompson is looking forward to seeing.

"We're just trying to build on the success he had last year and the things that he can do," Thompson said. "Being an Australian rules punter and having that background, we can do a million different punt scenarios. We're just trying to build upon what we did well in 2019."

Wright had a strong season a year ago. His 39.87 yards per punt ranked fifth-best in a single season in Stony Brook history, and he earned a CAA Football Special Teams Player of the Week award after Week 1. The Sydney native punts with both feet.

Tebbetts, his housemate during the pandemic, will take over long snapping duties. A redshirt junior, Tebbetts spent his early career learning from All-American long snapper Billy Barber. Barber, who graduated from the program after the 2019 season, spent his final three seasons as the team's long snapper.

"It was great playing behind Billy," Tebbetts said. "We pushed and fed off of each other ever since I came here. He made the blueprint for what you're supposed to do as a specialist and specifically a long snapper. Learning from him has certainly benefited me."

Tebbetts spend the summer getting stronger. His parents own a gym, and he and Wright had access to it throughout the quarantine period. Thompson has been impressed with Tebbetts' performance in the fall practice period, comparing his accuracy and velocity to Barber's.

As practice continues and the team inches closer to the 2021 season, Thompson has consistently focused on the importance of field position to his unit. It's the most important part of special teams, he said, and is something the group talks about daily.

"All I consistently preach to our guys is that it's all about establishing field position," he said. "Every ten yards that you can gain in the return unit is ten fewer yards that our offense has to get. When we're punting and kicking off, we're trying to put the other team in a hole."

Thompson said that every team on the schedule has explosive special teams units. When the season gets underway in March, he expects a strong year from his group.

"There's no off week when you're kicking the ball," he said.