COLUMBIA, Mo. — Meetings of Missouri football’s special teams players feel like a ghost town these days.
“It feels like there’s no one in there,†kicker Blake Craig said, which is fair to feel.
Last year, the Tigers had four kickers, two punters and three long snappers on the roster. This spring, that’s down to two kickers, one punter and one long snapper.
Who snatched the specialists? The future of college sports.
One of the key changes to college sports that would arrive with the expected approval of a legal settlement in the House v. NCAA case is the reworking of roster limits across sports. If the settlement receives final approval in April, which is likely, “walk-on†athletes will be a thing of the past.
Football programs, for example, will offer more scholarships but fewer overall roster spots. Last year, teams possessed 85 scholarship spots and could roster a total of 120 players. If the House settlement is approved, there will be 105 roster spots, all of which are on scholarship — so more players on scholarship but fewer overall.
And whom does that affect?
“The reality of it is it impacts the entire roster, to a degree — (but) certainly at the specialist positions,†Mizzou special teams coordinator Erik Link said Tuesday. “We’ll carry probably about three less specialists than we typically have in the past.â€
The positive spin on a shallower special teams room is that it creates more of an “NFL mindset,†as Link put it, when it comes to depth — or a lack thereof. The negative spin is that roster spots for specialists around the nation have disappeared, and injuries to a specialist position could put programs in quite the pickle.
Even though the House settlement has not received formal and final approval, MU coach Eli Drinkwitz and his staff have approached this offseason as if the 105-player limit is going to take effect sometime before the start of the 2025 season. The Tigers have 98 players listed on their spring roster, which is a sizable decrease from last season and still under the expected cap.
Expect a couple of those remaining spots to go to specialist roles. By outlining his vision for what the special teams section of the depth chart will look like, Link confirmed Mizzou will almost certainly be bringing in a pair of specialists during the spring transfer portal window — perhaps not the splashiest of positions but very important to constructing depth.
“It’s going to be more of a true, probably two-deep in each position, and then try to have a spare, have a combo guy that can do both,†Link said. “And then try to have an emergency snapper, emergency holder — just try to be prepared.â€
So at kicker: Craig will reprise his role as the starting kicker. True freshman Robert Meyer, who committed as a preferred walk-on when that designation meant something, is currently participating in spring practices and will be the backup.
At punter: Stanford transfer Connor Weselman is the only punter on the roster right now. MU will attempt to bring in another punter during the spring portal window to compete with him.
At long snapper: Brett Le Blanc is the only long snapper on the roster. This is another position where a spring portal addition is expected.
And the emergency plans: Craig and Meyer have both been practicing punting alongside Weselman during spring. Craig has experience doing so in high school and played goalkeeper in soccer, which involved a form of punting.
“It’s fun,†he said. “It’s something new.â€
Should Le Blanc go down with an injury, linebacker Tommy Reese would be the emergency long snapper, Link said.
That kind of contingency scenario is commonplace in the NFL, where rosters are about half the size of what college rosters will be this year, further slimming down the number of specialists a team can carry. Mizzou, for instance, used two long snappers last year — one for punts, one for field goals/extra points — which is a foreign concept to a pro team.
Cutting the roster down to this point, though, involved some difficult conversations near the end of the 2024 season. With the roster-limit writing on the wall, MU’s coaches had to break the news to some walk-ons that their positions would not be part of the 105 — a locker room version of a layoff.
“We thought that it was fair to explain to our roster where they’re currently at and let those guys, after the season, make a decision on what’s best for their future,†Link said. “... We move forward as, ‘Hey, we’ve got to build a roster with 105 eventually.’ â€
That’s part of coaching in a tumultuous time for college sports.
“It’s really hard, right?†Link said. “But unfortunately, it’s part of the rules. We don’t make the rules. We just have to adapt and adjust, and I think that’s been the theme with college football for the last probably four or five years, right? You just kind of adapt and adjust. Give us the rules, give us the parameters and then we’ve got to go from there.â€
Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz talks about what stands out about Mizzou's program and the challenges of the transfer portal. Video courtesy of Mizzou Athletics, edited by Jenna Jones.
