Special teams impressive in Southeast Missouri State football's debut

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz dreaded the possibility of seeing a repeat of the Redhawks' special teams efforts from last season.

When he finally saw the special teams in action against a regular-season opponent, he was pleasantly surprised.

"Well, I was nervous," Matukewicz said. "I kept on having nightmares about last season's special teams, so I didn't really know what we were going to get. But that was what was so nice. We go 3-and-out, punt, Spencer [Davis] flips the field on us, and we've got like a 20-yard drive or whatever that first drive was. That's what special teams does. ... I'd give it a really high grade. Of course, you watch the film and there'll be some stuff we've got to work on, but in my mind it stuck out in a positive way."

Southeast's special teams performance last season was by far the worst in the Ohio Valley Conference, and what Matukewicz considered "embarrassing" for a Division I program.

Thursday night when the Redhawks' opened their season against NAIA opponent Missouri Baptist, the special teams was anything but embarrassing.

Senior kick and punt returner Spencer Davis returned the Spartan's first punt of the game 61 yards to the 8-yard line and set up Southeast's first touchdown of the season-opening 77-0 victory.

"Once I caught it, I saw a lane, and I had good blockers set up on the left side," Davis said. "I just hit it, and I didn't know it opened up like I thought it would. Once I hit it all I saw was daylight, and the one thing in my mind was not getting tackled by the kicker."

Davis, who had nearly 1,000 yards combined punt and kick returning his junior season, will be critical to the Redhawks' success this season.

Davis holds Southeast's single-season and career return yardage records. He has 2,507 return yards total and had 950 yards returning last season.

Southeast Missouri State's head coach, Tom Matukewicz looks down the sideline during the seasons first game against Missouri Baptist Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014 at Houck Stadium. (GLENN LANDBERG)

"It's everything," Matukewicz said of Davis' returning. "I mean, 10 yards -- that's a first down. First downs are hard to get in college football. You get 20 yards, and that's two first downs. The thing about him though is that he can break an arm tackle. You know, he's really fast, and everybody talks about how fast he is, but he's strong. ... You know, a lot of times you get an arm on a guy and you're a little peanut, they'll drag you down. But you've got to be able to break those arm tackles and get vertical. We let the punt hit a couple times I wish we wouldn't have when we took Spencer out, but when he was in the game I thought he did a really nice job."

Matukewicz also commended sophomore kicker Ryan McCrum for his performance Thursday night. McCrum kicked off eight times for 510 yards, an average of 63.8 yards and four touchbacks.

"Ryan McCrum -- how about this guy?" Matukewicz said. "This guy must've found some girlfriend or something. I mean, he can walk around with his shirt off. He feels like the best thing to ever. ... You know, touchback, like no one thinks that's a big deal, but I'm telling you there's going to be some people that we don't want to touch the ball. That's a huge deal. That's a weapon. That's field position and those type of things. He really did a good job."

McCrum made seven PATs Thursday night, just one shy of the number he made last season when he made 8 of 11 PATs. Junior transfer Clay Pickler made four PATs Thursday night.

"It boosted my confidence, that's for sure," McCrum said. "I mean, [long snapper David] Smart did an excellent job snapping the ball and of course [holder Tyler] Manne got every hold right, couldn't ask for a better night, really."

"I feel a lot more confidence in the line holding people, like giving me time to get my kick off and executing the kick right," McCrum said. "It just feels a lot more in rhythm this year."

One thing Matukewicz couldn't see about his special teams was field-goal kicking.

"I was hoping for one," said McCrum, who made 2 of 6 field goals last season, said with a smile. "But our team did good enough that we didn't have to."