Barry Odom admits he didn’t see this coming. After four-year starting punter Corey Fatony graduated, the coaching staff made an effort to find someone to replace him — someone other than placekicker Tucker McCann, that is. The staff brought in a slew of walk-ons over the summer, but McCann proved most consistent, so he won the starting job, meaning he would have to handle punts, kickoffs and placekicking duties.
While not unheard of, it’s rare to see one player do the punting and kicking. McCann is the first Missouri player to kick the majority of his team's punts and kickoffs since Adam Crossett in 2005. Last season, only one player at a Power Five school, Austin Seibert of Oklahoma, did so.
McCann has not only filled all three roles, he has excelled, especially as a punter. During Missouri’s 50-0 rout of Southeast Missouri on Saturday, McCann booted two punts more than 60 yards. His five punts on the night traveled an average of 55.4 yards, and two were downed inside the SEMO 20-yard line.
“He really hit it tonight, didn’t he?” Odom said. “No, I didn’t expect ... the performance that he had tonight.
“He’s playing really, really well.”
Entering this season, special teams as a whole served as an area of concern for Missouri. The Tigers finished second-to-last nationally in punt return average (more on that in a bit), struggled to cover punt and kickoff returns and seemed to have a knack for making poor special teams plays in losses, such as a blocked punt for a touchdown against Georgia and a miscommunication that led to an onside kick against South Carolina. The most consistent aspect of the special teams last season was Fatony’s punting, but with his graduation, that became another concern that had to be addressed by special teams coordinator Andy Hill and the coaching staff during the offseason.
It’s only been three games, but so far, McCann has actually been an improvement over Fatony. Fatony was no slouch, averaging 44.4 yards per punt last season. So far this year, McCann is averaging 44.7 yards per boot.
Perhaps more important, taking over the punting duties has not affected McCann’s performance elsewhere. He has kicked touchbacks on 21 of 22 kickoffs this season. That 95.45 percent touchback rate ranks second nationally. He has also continued his run as an excellent long-distance field goal kicker; he’s one of two kickers in the country to make four kicks from 40-plus yards on the season. Saturday, he hit on field goals from 42, 44 and 52 yards, becoming the first college player since at least 2000 to have four 50-plus yard punts and make three 40-plus yard field goals in the same game.
“The workload hasn’t proven to be too much,” Odom said. “That’s what I was worried about. It hasn’t really messed up his swing on field goal or extra point opportunities, which sometimes guys are a lot like a golfer and their golf swing or quarterbacks and things like that where you don’t want to mess up what they do really well. His game has gotten better with the workload.”
McCann said he has worked with Hill to fine tune how many of each kick he needs to do each day to make sure he gets the necessary reps without doing so much that he tires out his leg. He and Hill have both compared the balancing act to a baseball pitcher being on a pitch count.
“I’m kind of learning how to pace myself during the game and pregame, how many kicks I need to kick, how many kicks I don’t need to get,” McCann said.
McCann hasn’t been the only senior special-teamer with a strong start to the season for Missouri. Punt returner Richaud Floyd returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown Saturday, proving Missouri its first special teams touchdown since 2017. On the play, Floyd traveled more yardage than Missouri’s punt returners did all of last year. Yes, you read that correctly. In 20 return attempts in 2018, Missouri managed just 52 yards, or 2.6 yards per return. Through three games this season, Floyd is averaging 20.7 yards per return, good for eighth nationally.
Odom seemed particularly happy to see Floyd’s touchdown Saturday. The slot receiver-turned-cornerback missed most of last season due to two separate injuries, one of which was a concussion suffered when he got hit hard on a punt return against Tennessee. Odom admitted he wasn't sure Floyd would field another punt after that.
“He’s been a guy that moved from receiver to corner and starts on every one of our special teams,” Odom said of Floyd. “Senior, had every chance in the world to go leave and go somewhere else, and he just continues to make plays. He is as good of a teammate as we’ve got, and I was really happy to see him have some success.”
Missouri hasn’t been perfect on special teams so far this season. Even Saturday, the Tigers had an extra point blocked. But thanks to Floyd and, especially, McCann, the Tigers put forth their most complete special teams effort in more than a year against SEMO. No matter if he’s facing a punt, kickoff or field goal, McCann has proven that his right leg is among the nation’s most powerful and reliable.
“He’s been a weapon for us,” Odom said.
