Missouri has a long line of players who have excelled at their respective positions and have individual traits that help make them stand out. You know, like Drew Lock’s arm strength or the athletic ability and quick twitch of a guy like Sheldon Richardson.

Which is a good starting point for this question: How would you build your ideal player? This week, we evaluate the specialists.

Specialists

1. Power
2. Accuracy
3. Clutch

Power, Accuracy, Clutch: Harrison Mevis (2020-Present)

This is a first for the series.

We have the first player who will be on the 2022 roster, represented in the specialists department. Now, I’ve gotten a lot of grief from readers throughout this series for my tendency to choose modern players for this exercise, but I feel like this is one we should be able to agree on once we lay out the facts of it.

At this very moment, through two seasons at Missouri, has 40 made field goals out of 45 to put him 7th all time in made field goals. His 88.9% hit rate, ranks 1st all time in Missouri history with players over two career attempts. He is 69 out of 69 (nice) on extra points too. All of this is to say, that Mevis, should he stay another two years, will break most of the kicking records at Missouri. This is all very clear through the first 23 games of his career.

It’s not just his statistics though. He is a true weapon in college football. His leg is one of the strongest in the country and he’s not afraid to show it off. A career 6-7 from 50+ and a career long of 56, Mevis is good to go once you get to the opponents 40.

Photo by Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

With kickers, you kind of have a continuous, internal, rating of confidence that they’ll be able to come through. Everyone knows the times when you lack confidence in your kicker are absolutely demoralizing because it adds an extra burden to the offense. In my lifetime, I can’t remember having a higher confidence level in a kicker before. Even from long range, I have gotten to the point to where I just *expect* him to make it.

There are plenty of great kickers in Missouri’s history and sometimes it’s tough to make these kind of statements without the full story being written, however Mevis has been everything you could ask for from a kicker and more.

[editor’s note: I vehemently disagree with the exclusion of diver turned walk on kicker turned superstar. Jeff Wolfert.]

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