Aug. 20, 2009

By Jeff Honza
Southeast Missouri State Sports Information

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Special teams are one of the most important facets in football and Southeast Missouri State University takes a lot of pride in its ability to make game-changing plays.

The Redhawks specialists are a fundamentally sound group which has high expectations for the 2009 season.

"Personnel is a big thing. We have a lot more special teams type players this year and I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do on the field," said special teams coach Chris Norris.

Southeast has three quality kickers headlined by preseason All-American and All-Ohio Valley Conference pick Doug Spada.

Spada became only the third player in Redhawks football history to garner All-American honors in multiple seasons when he was voted first-team by the American Football Coaches Association and third-team by the Associated Press and Sports Network last season. He also garnered first-team all-conference laurels after ranking third in the nation and leading the league with 44.7 yards per punt.

Spada spent the offseason attending several camps. One of the more prominent was located in Prattville, Ala., where he trained with coach Mike McCabe.

"A group of college kickers and punters from around the country were invited to this camp," said Spada. "Coach McCabe was there for about a month and I was able to train hard every day. It was extremely helpful and took my game to the next level."

Spada enters the year ranked among Southeast's top-10 career leaders in several special teams categories, including points scored (8th, 137), field goals (3rd, 29), PATs (5th, 50-of-53), punting yards (7th, 4,655) and punt attempts (10th, 107).

Spada looks to keep his punting average razor sharp again this season.

"I want to be number one in punting average," he said. "I want to increase my net punting average. Having a really good net average will help the team a lot and prepare me for the next level."

Freshmen Curtis Huge and Drew Geldbach are also having a nice camp. Huge redshirted for the Redhawks last season, while Geldbach went through spring drills after joining the program from the University of Missouri. Huge and Gelbach are listed as backups at punter and kicker, respectively.

"Curtis and Drew have come a long way," commented Norris.

Sophomore Aaron King and senior Dustin Powell will handle holding duties, while freshman Brandon Gabbard takes over as the team's longsnapper.

Gabbard snapped to current UCLA punter Jeff Locke during his prep career at Mountain Ridge High School. He replaces Andrew Bravo, who served as the team's starting longsnapper the last two seasons.

Return men Jacob McKinley (So.), Abraham Woodard (Jr.), Henry Harris (Jr.) and Eddie Calvin (Sr.) round out this year's specialists.

McKinley broke the school's all-time single-season record in kick return yardage as a true freshman in 2008. He returned 35 kickoffs for 785 yards, averaging 22.43 yards per return. That 22.43 mark is currently second among the Redhawks career leaders in kick return average. McKinley also broke free for a career-long 85-yard kickoff return at Indiana State.

Harris was second on the team in kickoff returns last season. He ran back 13 kicks for 280 yards.

Calvin followed in third with five kickoff returns for 143 yards.

Woodard will see action returning kickoffs and punts, as well. He is in his first year after transferring to Southeast from Northeast Oklahoma A&M.

Southeast did not practice Thursday so that members of the team could help with move-in day. Football student-athletes helped other students move into the dorms and other housing facilities on campus.