New Redhawk punter has BIG shoes to fill

A former Southeast Missouri State football assistant coach once made the remark: Long-snappers are like oxygen. You don’t think about it until you don’t have it.

The same could be said for the advantage of field position that a top-notch punter can give a football team.

The Redhawks didn’t worry much about their punting game over the past three seasons. SEMO had Zach Haynes in that position, and the two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team selection was as good as any punter at the FCS level.

In fact, Haynes was so good, that the FBS program New Mexico State wanted him to finish his final season of eligibility in Las Cruces, not Cape Girardeau, so Haynes is now gone.

“People will all of a sudden think ‘Oh, wow,’” 10th-year Redhawk coach Tom Matukewicz said of possibly not having an elite punter.

The Redhawk coaching staff searched quickly for Haynes’ replacement in January and found – perhaps – a diamond in the rough, in Eastern Michigan transfer Adam Heston.

“At the time,” Matukewicz said, “there weren’t a lot of options. He came on a visit and what I liked about him is he had the mentality of a linebacker or running back.”

That is because Heston, who carries 215 pounds of muscle on his 6-foot-1 frame, was a very good linebacker during his days at St. Augustine Prep in New Jersey.

As a senior at St. Augustine, Heston started at linebacker and led his team with 62 tackles.

“He wants to be great,” Matukewicz said. “You can coach him hard.”

That is something that Matukewicz has already begun doing.

During the recruiting process, Matukewicz let Heston know that he had very large shoes to fill.

“I told him during the recruiting that he was joining a top 25 team,” Matukewicz explained. “So, you’ve got to be a top 25 kicker, not just a good FCS kicker. You have to be able to be a top 25 kicker.”

In actuality, the Redhawks have been ranked as high as No. 9 nationally in one poll, so the pressure is on Heston to be really, really good.

Can he do that?

Few know, because Heston hasn’t punted in an actual game since his high school career in 2019.

At Eastern Michigan, Heston spent one season as a redshirt and didn’t see any action.

In 2021, he didn’t get in a game, and last fall, he played in all 13 games for the Eagles, but only as a holder, which was another attractive trait that Matukewicz liked.

“I knew that he started at holder,” Matukewicz said. “So, I knew, worst case scenario, he is pretty good at holding.”

Heston’s history also shows that he is “pretty good” at punting if given the opportunity.

In high school, he was ranked by one kicking service as the top punter in New Jersey. Heston was named Second Team All-State and averaged nearly 41 yards per punt.

During his junior season, he landed 13 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, which is something that Haynes could do in his sleep.

“He has been coached well (by Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton),” Matukewicz said. “He is just wanting an opportunity.”

Matukewicz brought Heston to Cape Girardeau in January, and he openly admits, it has been a slow process to being enamored with Heston.

“He’s on an upward trajectory,” Matukewicz said. “I was pretty concerned in the spring.”

Heston was the lone SEMO punter during the spring. However, the Redhawks also added freshman Logan Leftrick out of Springfield, Tenn. in June.

That time frame was out of the ordinary for Matukewicz.

“Usually,” Matukewicz said, “I don’t bring the specialists back until July. But I brought them in June because I was concerned.”

With Matukewicz and Redhawk specialists coach Connor Benado monitoring his progress daily throughout this summer, and now into training camp, Heston has begun to show his potential.

“It’s going way better,” Matukewicz said. “So, I feel a lot better about it now.”

Heston has three seasons of eligibility, while Leftrick has four.

The Redhawks will open the regular season at Kansas State on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m.

SEMO will open its home season at renovated Houck Field on Sept. 9 against Lindenwood at 6 p.m.