Spring Football Position Preview: Special Teamers
Missouri will start its approach toward the 2023 campaign with the first day of spring practice in early March. Until then, we will preview the 2023 roster by doing position-by-position previews. Next, is the special teamers.
The starters: At placekicker, Harrison Mevis secured the starting spot once he made the decision to return to Missouri for the 2023 season. Mevis had the worst season of his career by far in 2022. He made 22 of 28 (78%) field goals and his six missed field goals were the most misses he’s had in a single season of his career. His previous high for missed field goals was three in 2020.
One of Mevis’ missed kicks was a 26-yard field goal at the end of regulation against Auburn which was partially a reason why Mizzou lost that game.
However, Mevis is still one of the best kickers in school history if not the best. He’s 62 of 73 (84.9%) and is a perfect 102 of 102 on points after attempts for his career. He’s still one of the nation’s better kickers as evidenced by his week five Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week performance versus Georgia when he made all five field goals from 22, 41, 49, 52 and 56 yards out.
At kick returner, the Tigers have lost Elijah Young, who has transferred to Western Kentucky, but they have retained Nathaniel Peat. They’ve also got starting cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine and starting wide receiver Luther Burden III available. Burden only returned punts last season, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could be an option on the return team at least for the spring. Three-star wide receiver signee Daniel Blood was a return man for Destrehan (La.) on a way to a state championship last season. He won’t be in Columbia for the spring, but he might be able to earn this role during fall camp.
Burden will be the team's punt returner unless they don't want to risk an injury to him.
Last season's starting punter Jack Stonehouse transferred to Syracuse and Sean Koetting graduated, so the Tigers got former Towson punter Riley Williams out of the transfer portal.
Williams led the Colonial Athletic Association conference and finished fourth in the FCS in punting average at 44.7 yards per punt on 46 punts.
Long snapper Daniel Hawthorne entered the transfer portal leaving Jake Hoffman and Jack Kautz as the lone long snappers. However, Hoffman has been the team's long snapper the past two seasons and will likely keep that same role in 2023.
The backup: Missouri signed all-state kicker Blake Craig, who made 17 of 24 field goal attempts last season that included longs of 49, 50, 52 and 55. He connected on 50 of 51 PATs and had 68 touchbacks on 81 kickoffs. He is an early enrollee, so he will participate in spring football. He won't beat out Mevis for the starting placekicker role, but he could earn the kickoff specialist role that Koetting had last season.
Storylines to watch for: Who could be added to the kick returner and punt returner mix? If the Tigers don't want to use Burden, who else could replace him this spring? Blood could come in the mix in the fall, but for the spring does someone like Mookie Cooper, Tavorus Jones, Dannis Jackson or someone else emerge?
Does Craig snag the kickoff specialist role?
PowerMizzou prediction: Mevis and Williams are the starters for their respective positions with Craig taking kickoff specialist duties. It's a way to get Craig on the field without risking Mevis to an injury on kickoff duties. Burden will still be the team’s punt returner because of his playmaking ability in the open field.
Other previews
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