With the start of fall camp less than a month away and the kickoff of the 2019 season less than two months away, it's time to start examining the Missouri football team's strengths and weaknesses. In this three-part series, we are taking a look at the Tigers' 2018 statistics on offense, defense and special teams in an effort to examine what the team should do well and what it needs to improve this season.
It's no secret that Missouri struggled mightily on special teams last season. These numbers should give a better sense of what specifically the Tigers need to improve in 2019.
Punting
Missouri did well at both limiting the number of times it needed to punt last season, and Corey Fatony performed well when called upon. Unfortunately, the Tigers have to replace Fatony this season, and as of this writing, it's unclear who will claim the job. Placekicker Tucker McCann looked like the best punter during spring practices, but asking him to handle punts, kickoffs and placekicking duties could be too heavy a workload. The coaching staff has reportedly brought in a host of walk-ons to compete with McCann for the job.
What is not a mystery is that the Tigers need to do a better job at covering punts and, especially, returning them. Missouri was one of 40 FBS programs to allow more than 10 yards per punt return last season, and one of the two 20-plus yard returns — a Lynn Bowden Jr. punt return touchdown for Kentucky — almost directly led to a loss. On the flip side, the Tigers didn't generate a single 20-plus yard return. The team's 2.6 yard average indicates it may as well have fair-caught every punt all season. Part of the ineffectiveness in the return game could be chalked up to Richaud Floyd missing much of last season — it would seem surprising if Johnathon Johnson handled return duties again this year — but more of the blame lies with the blocking.
Kickoffs
McCann used his big leg to boot a healthy number of touchbacks last season. Unfortunately for Missouri, when McCann was unable to boot the ball through the end zone, the Tigers didn't cover kickoffs particularly well. While the Tigers didn't allow a kickoff return for a touchdown last season, they gave up more than 20 yards per return.
When Missouri was doing the returning, freshman running back Tyler Badie possessed the speed of a dynamic return man, but he failed to ever bust free for a big return. Like with the team's punt returning, part of that stems from lapses in execution from the blockers. Given the fact that any kickoff fielded inside the 25-yard line can be advanced to the 25 with a fair catch, special teams coordinator Andy Hill might be wise to instruct his returners to signal for more fair catches this season.
Placekicking
While McCann made several long field goals last season, he struggled a bit with accuracy. McCann missed three extra point attempts on the season. He also missed nine of his 34 field goals. Interestingly, three of those misses came on kicks of less than 40 yards, while he missed just one field goal of more than 50 yards. There is reason for hope McCann can improve his numbers during his senior season, though. For one, McCann was much more accurate as a sophomore, making 88.2 percent of his kicks in 2017. That tied for the fifth-best percentage in the country. Plus, he was generally clutch in big moments last season. He hit a game-winning field goal as time expired against Purdue and bombed in a 57-yard field goal to give Missouri a late lead against South Carolina. Part of McCann's accuracy struggles may have resulted from issues with the long-snapping and protection; fix those and the Tigers could see a more accurate McCann as a senior.
