SEMO football preview: Field goal defense critical in Redhawks' red zone success

This story is part of the Southeast Missouri State football preview series. Click here to read about how three of the Redhawks best specialists made their way to Southeast.

Southeast Missouri State defensive line coach Ricky Coon remembered the turning point for the Redhawks that took their game against Kansas from a blowout to just a 6-point loss.

Then senior cornerback Tim Hamm-Bey blocked the Jayhawks' 49-yard field goal attempt with 12 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Southeast scored its first touchdown on the ensuing drive after facing a 24-0 deficit. It's just an example of how that facet of special teams, which features the team's usual defensive players, can impact a game.

"Whether it's one point or three points, somehow they got in a position to score points and you've got to take that a little bit personal and try to take those off the board because every point matters," Coon said. "Every point matters. I've lost a game by a point, I've won a game by a point. Every point matters and so that's what they have to understand. The KU game last year that changed the momentum of the football game. We block a field goal then we get a fourth-down stop and here we come. It's a momentum changer when you block a field goal and it's demoralizing to an opponent, so we put a lot of emphasis on it."

Hamm-Bey, a second-team all-conference performer, was a constant playmaker for Southeast's successful field goal block team in his final season, leading the team with four blocked kicks. Coon expects one of the team's quick corners this year, like Jamarl Holloway or Michael Ford, to play a similar role but noted that it takes more than just a corner to get to the ball and disrupt it.

"If you don't have those big guys in the middle teeing off then those edges are going to be long and we're not going to have an opportunity to get there," Coon said. "So those guys are really important, too, and I think that's what makes ours unique is our big guys get a great push up the middle to really shorten the edges for those corners to come off the edge and block. I'm really excited about the group we've got coming back to do that."

It's something that the defense practices every day, although not at full speed or live each time.

The group will get lined up to work on fakes and make sure everyone's aware of their responsibilities in certain field goal situations.

"It's hard against our team because our field goal team is really good, their operation is really fast, so it's hard for us to block it at practice, but we've just got to stay the course," Coon said.

Coon pointed out that the field goal block team played a critical role in the Redhawks ranking second in the Ohio Valley Conference in red zone defense. Southeast's opponents made just 4 of 10 field goal attempts.

"We take it really seriously and what we tell them is it's just another defensive snap," Coon said. "Just as you would play hard on a third-down you're going to play hard on a field goal or an extra point. We're going to try and block it. So I think it starts there with the coaches making it important. We do that and in turn our kids play hard, and we were effective last year."