Winning The Third Phase
September 07, 2023 | Football, Joel Coleman
State special teams looks to continue strong start in Week 2.
STARKVILLE – It was among the most memorable moments of last week's season opener.
Early fourth quarter. Southeastern Louisiana was set to punt. Mississippi State's John Lewis was a man on a mission.
The Lions snapped the ball, Lewis shot past the line of scrimmage; he ran right through a Southeastern blocker, put his arms in the air and got a hand on the football. Fellow Bulldog Avery Sledge hauled in the blocked kick at the 11-yard line and sprinted in for the score. Touchdown State! The cowbells clanged in approval at Davis Wade Stadium.
It turned what was already a 20-point game into a blowout and all but solidified a State win. Lewis had been a gamechanger.
"I think that play describes John Lewis to a T," MSU defensive coordinator Matt Brock said. "That's a guy who doesn't slow down through contact. He accelerates through contact. It doesn't matter what [phase of the game] he's playing on."
Lewis exemplified just how special successful special teams play can be. In fact, the Bulldogs as a whole shined in the third phase of the game all of last Saturday. The group directly accounted for 18 of State's 48 points courtesy of two field goals, six extra points and Sledge's touchdown off of Lewis' punt block.
"You want to pitch in any way you can," MSU special teams coordinator Eric Mele said. "Any time there is an opportunity for those points, you're responsible to your teammates and want to uphold the standard to make sure we're holding up our end of the bargain. It was good to impact that and lay a good foundation to build on going into Game 2."
Maybe no special teams player laid a more solid foundation for the weeks to come than kicker Kyle Ferrie. The true freshman looked to have ice water pumping through his young veins as he stepped on the field for the first time in his career and drilled field goals of 47 and 49 yards.
"That's a heck of a way to get your career started," State head coach Zach Arnett said. "First career college game and he did a phenomenal job. We're very excited about him."
Ferrie became the first Bulldog true freshman in 14 years to score State's first points of the season. For his efforts, he earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors earlier this week.
Last Saturday might've been the first time the whole MSU family got to see Ferrie's tremendous talent, but his early highlights were no surprise to those in the football program.
"He had a great [training] camp," Mele said of Ferrie. "He [made] about 83 percent [of his kicks] in camp and won the job. We put him through some circumstances very similar to what happened to him [last Saturday], and he executed. So, congratulations to him as freshman having the confidence to do what he'd been doing all through camp."
Ferrie wasn't the only freshman whose foot proved valuable last week. Keelan Crimmins also saw his first action in Maroon and White and responded with a couple of solid punts, including one that made the Lions begin a drive inside their own 20.
Maybe the most exciting thing about Crimmins' showing though is that everyone believes the best is still yet to come for the Australian, rugby-style punter.
"He'll tell you it wasn't his best [punt] or two [last week], but it was good to see him get out there and execute and get used to the cowbells," Mele said. "There's going to be a little bit of a process where he's got to understand exactly what we're doing, and I've got to do a better job of telling him exactly where we want the ball or how hard he can kick it or that type of thing. He had a really good [training camp], too. He won the job in camp from his performance and distance and hangtime. I expect him to come out and have an even better game this week."
In fact, State's special teams as a whole might be set for even more production come Saturday's 6:30 p.m. game against Arizona as one of the Bulldogs' most electric playmakers looks to be on track for a return.
After missing the season opener, receiver/returner Zavion Thomas is expected to be available this week per Arnett.
"He probably could have gone even last week some, but obviously if something unfortunate happened in the game [you might] lose him for one or two games afterwards," Arnett explained. "So, we wanted to see if we could weather the storm without him [last week], but yes, we expect him to be back."
Count Mele among the many excited about that news.
"Zavion is a special talent back there," Mele said. "He's excited, too. He's chomping at the bit. It allows me to do some things scheme-wise with the way we attack things on the punt return unit. So, yeah, the faster he gets back, the better it is for everybody."
The better it is for everybody, and the more likely it is State can continue to give itself an added edge with productive special teams play.
