One of Missouri's strengths going into 2022 was believed to be its special teams, especially with kicker Harrison Mevis returning, but it wasn't to be.
A year after finishing second in the Southeastern Conference in field goal percentage at 92%, the Tigers were seventh at 78.6%.
Mizzou was 69th in the FBS in punting average at 41.6, and 124th in kickoff return yard average at 16.3 yards.
Despite some uncharacteristic hiccups last season, there's reason to believe the unit will bounce back in 2023 and actually be better than it was in 2022.
Upside
The biggest upside is that Mevis is still one of the best kickers in the nation despite having an off year.
After previously going 17-of-20 (85%) on field goals in 2020 and 23-of-25 (92%) in 2021, he went 22-of-28 (78.6%) last season.
He started off the first third of the season going 5-of-8 which included his first game with multiple missed field goals in week three versus Abilene Christian and a 26-yard field goal miss against Auburn at the end of regulation.
After those two weeks, he bounced back with an elite performance versus Georgia making all five of his field goal attempts (22, 41, 49, 52, 56) and was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week.
From week five through the end of the season, Mevis made 17-of-20 field goals.
Mevis is still an NFL-level kicker and a bounce-back season can possibly lead to Mevis being one of the few kickers drafted in 2024.
Luther Burden III didn't start returning punts until week three versus Abilene Christian and that's when he returned a 78-yard punt for a touchdown.
So, the wide receiver showed he's more than capable of being a weapon in the punt return game.
He had 12 punt returns for 151 yards (12.6 yards per return) and a touchdown last season.
Punter Jack Stonehouse transferred to Syracuse, but the Tigers seemed to have found a suitable replacement in Riley Williams who transferred in from Towson.
Williams led the Colonial Athletic Association and finish fourth in the FCS in punting average at 44.7 yards per punt on 46 punts. He had 16 punts go 50 or more yards and 13 punts land inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
Downside
Mevis' track record gives him the benefit of the doubt. So, while he could underperform like he did to start last season at the end of the day his worse season is still nearly making 80% of his field goals.
Also, he has never missed a PAT and it's safe to assume he wouldn't miss any this upcoming season.
However, Burden's punt-returning abilities did have a couple of flaws, such as how he often fielded the ball off of the bounce.
Burden is electrifying when he has the ball in his hands and his aforementioned touchdowns versus Abilene Christian came off of the bounce.
However, his penchant for playmaking can sometimes lead to negative plays like when he attempted to field a dying punt versus Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl and ended up fumbling.
Of his 151 punt return yards, 112 of them were against Abilene Christian. He only had one return of 10 or more yards after that game (a 29-yard return versus Vanderbilt). So, he didn't really show much consistency.
For Williams, can he bring his play from the CAA to the SEC where the athletes are bigger, better and faster, and the crowds are rowdier and easily exceed north of 70,000 every game?
Reality
It's hard to believe Mevis would struggle like he did in 2022. He's still one of the best kickers in the nation and has multiple seasons proving so.
Burden has to be more consistent in his decision-making when it comes to fielding the ball and when to return a punt. He had five games where he averaged three yards or less on punt returns (two games in the negatives).
Williams will probably be an improvement over Stonehouse, but the key for Williams will be consistency.
Nathaniel Peat was the primary kickoff returner and probably will reclaim the role in 2023. This part of the game isn't as important as it once was, but considering Mizzou was the seventh-worst team in kickoff return yards, it would be better off taking a touchback every single time and getting the ball at the 25-yard line.
Overall, there shouldn't be too much to worry about in special teams.
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