Special teams' struggles continue to haunt Redhawks

Offense and defense are considered the two primary phases of a football game, however, big plays on special teams can influence the result of a game just as much as offense or defense.

Big kick returns can rejuvenate a stalling offense, while miscues can set a team up for failure.

“The overall importance has a lot to do with field position, and a lot of it is hidden yardage, not necessarily seen in the stats,” coach Tom Matukewicz said. “That can also be where a lot of big plays come from, big returns, or in our case, there’s been some turnovers.”

Southeast Missouri State’s football team has seen both sides of that equation recently.

In recent seasons, the special teams units were led by former All-Ohio Valley Conference first-team honorees punter Alex Knight and kicker Ryan McCrum, but both were seniors last season, leaving Preseason All-OVC returner Cameron Sanders as the only proven commodity remaining on the special teams unit.

Sanders averaged 27 yards per kick return return, which ranked 12th in the FCS, but has seen that number fall to 16.8 yards per return in 2017. He had a 33-yard return get called back against Dayton due to a holding penalty.

“He’s doing a good job, it’s not always on Cam, of course he gets the glory when he scores a touchdown, but we have 11 guys out there doing their job,” special teams coach Matt Martin said. “We’re working really hard on kick returns because he can be a weapon for us.”

Sanders, the second running back on Southeast’s depth chart, isn’t the only player to have a large role on special teams while also contributing on offense. Martin wants to put as much emphasis as possible on the team’s special teams contributions, and lets the entire team know they may be asked to play special teams. While teams often avoid using their top players on special teams, Martin deployed star wide receiver Paul McRoberts as the team’s punt returner during his record-breaking season in 2015.

“With our program and the way we’ve been since I’ve gotten here, it’s just as big of a deal as offense and defense,” Martin said. “We try to put a big importance on it, so we play our starters on special teams, our guys know it’s important. Around here you’re not going to be just the starting cornerback or starting receiver, you’re playing on special teams and showing that you’re taking that into account as well.”

At punt returner, sophomore Shabari Davis muffed a third-quarter punt against Southern Illinois-Carbondale on Saturday, which set up an easy score for the Salukis.

As the Redhawks try to get the return game back on track, the punting unit has struggled to fill the void left by Knight.

Junior Evan Scales is averaging 37.5 yards per punt this season, and had two punts blocked against Dayton. Redshirt freshman Jake Reynolds replaced Scales at punter against SIU, and found more success, with seven punts, averaging 42.1 yards per punt, and pinning the Salukis inside their own 20 once.

Junior kicker Nicholas Litang missed one extra point in the Redhawks’ opener against Kansas, and a 41-yard field goal against Dayton.

“We’ve just got to focus on new opportunities,” Martin said. “We had a bad week [against Dayton] and I take full responsibility for that, trying to be too perfect at times.”

For specialists, more so than any other position group, being able to move on from a bad play or game is critical.

“It’s a daily basis whether you have success or failures, you have to forget about them,” Martin said. “Learn from them, but forget about them and just go on to the next day and improve the next day.”