2016 Spring FB Wrap: Secondary & Special Teams

With graduation in the books and summer in full swing, GoRacers.com takes a look at the last two positions from spring football: the secondary and special teams. In addition, to the two position interview, you can also look up for an exclusive interview with defensive coordinator Chris Boone on the Racers defense as a whole. Up next for MSU football will be the summer program where 65-plus Racers will report to campus on June 12 to begin the hard work of building a championship team. Then, on August 4, fall camp will begin in earnest in preparation for the season kick off September 3 at Illinois.

Secondary

Key Losses – Shawn Samuels-Connell had 32 tackles for Murray State last season and finished his two-year career with 83 total tackles, 48 of which went down as solos. He also picked off two passes last season, defended two more and one broke up one.

Key Returners – Tobi Omli transferred in from Butler CC last spring and participated in spring practice. In the 2015 season, Omli had 49 tackles in seven games before missing the remainder of the season due to an injury. Marquez Sanford is sophomore out of Macon, Georgia, who had a stand out freshman year with the Racers. He racked up 50 tackles on the season, broke up three passes, forced a fumble and snatched two interceptions for 46 yards and a touchdown. D'Montre Wade is a redshirt junior out of Columbia, Tennessee. He has recorded 93 tackles so far for in his career for the Racers, 59 of which are unassisted. Last season, Wade made 29 total tackles and was a beast in coverage where he broke up nine passes.

Quincy Williams will look to improve on a solid redshirt freshman campaign in which he racked up 31 tackles, 18 of which were solo. Another player looking to build off last season is Zach Shipley, who made the transition from offense to defense in the middle of 2015. His 12 tackles were key late in the season and he will look to make himself a permanent fixture on the defense this season.

Key Newcomers – A pair of defensive backs from Saddleback CC went through spring practice with the Racers this season in Marcus Meredith and Zach Wade. The duo ended their two-year careers in California by helping lead their team to the 2015 CCCAA title game.

Meredith ended the season as a first-team CCCAA All-American and recorded 86 tackles to finish fourth in his league and 17^th in the CCCAA. He also had a team-high of 11 break-ups, which was third in the conference and 14^th in the CCCAA. In addition, the two-star rated prospect by Rivals and Scouts had 5.0 tackles-for-loss, three forced fumbles and two interceptions. In 2015, Wade led the National Southern Conference with 98 total tackles and finished eighth in all of the CCCAA. The two-star recruit by Rivals recorded 4.0 tackles for a loss of 13 yards, four breakups, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and two interceptions.

Special Teams

Key Returners – Landon Stratton was the starting punter for MSU in the 2015 season and had 62 punts for over 2,600 yards. The redshirt freshman averaged 42.0 yards per punt last season, with a long of 74, to finish 19^th in the nation. Connor Mitchell also returns for the Racers after taking over kickoff and place kicking duties midway through last season. Mitchell's average kickoff last year was 57.4 yards with two touchbacks and just two kicks that went out of bounds. On PATs, the rising senior missed just one in 25 attempts and was 9-for-14 on field goals with a long of 41. Completing the kicking game puzzle for Murray State will be long snapper Wes Drewery. In his first year with the Racers in 2015, Drewery had just one bad snap in 123 attempts.

Key Losses – The biggest loss to MSU's special team's game will be the duo of Pokey Harris and Janawaski Davis. Harris had 859 yards on kickoffs last season, while Davis has a combined 270 yards on punts and kickoffs, as well as one touchdown. In 2014, Harris became the first-ever MSU player to post a 100-yard kickoff return in consecutive games and earned consensus All-American status for his efforts.

Key Newcomers – James Sappington is a kicker out of Peculiar, Missouri. Sappington was a Class 6A first-team All-State selection by Missouri Football Coaches Association and first-team All-Conference honoree by Suburban Big 6. Sappington averaged 60.4 yards per kickoff in the 43 opportunities and 36.5 yards on 42 punts. His longest punt of the season went for 68-yards and he had 18 downed inside the 20-yards line. He was also 25-for-29 in extra point attempts and 11-for-17 in field goals in the 2015, and posted a long field goal of 49 yards.

Players Mentioned

Wes Drewery

Pokey Harris

Marcus Meredith

Connor Mitchell

Shawn Samuels-Connell

Marquez Sanford

Zach Shipley

Landon Stratton

D'Montre Wade

Zachary Wade

Quincy Williams

Murray State University Athletics

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