MSU football preview: Special Teams

Three short misses were the difference between Brett Swenson's terrific freshman season and his still-pretty-good sophomore campaign in 2007. He was 15 of 19 in 2006, solving MSU's kicking woes, then went 15 of 22 as a sophomore. Included were misses from 20, 28 and 39 yards.

"It was an all right season last year," Swenson said. "I'm going to try to rebound from that and have a real strong junior season."

Sophomore punter Aaron Bates also believes he can improve. Bates ranked ninth in the Big Ten with an average of 39.7 yards per punt. He's been working to increase his distance and hang time.

Bates is already good at placing his punts when MSU has the ball around midfield. He left the ball inside the opponent's 20-yard line 23 times as a freshman.

The Spartans are in solid shape, or better, with both specialists. And backup kicker Matt Haughey and punter Kyle Selden performed well in camp and provide some capable depth.

MSU is counting on another crop of freshman athletes to help improve its kicking game overall. The Spartans covered well last season, giving up 21.1 per kick return and 7.9 per punt, with no touchdowns.

And they did a great job on kickoff returns, providing lanes and watching Devin Thomas set a Big Ten record with 1,135 kickoff return yards. Thomas will be missed for a number of things, including his ability to consistently give his team good field position.

Several players have been auditioning to replace Thomas, and to give MSU something it hasn't had in a while - a threat at punt returner. Senior Terry Love caught the ball and did little else in 2007.

Mark Dell, Otis Wiley and Keshawn Martin have been returning punts. Wiley begins the season as the guy.

Martin, A.J. Jimmerson, Kendell Davis-Clark and several others - including Javon Ringer - have been bringing back kickoffs. Martin is a fluid, dangerous athlete in the open field, but a game at California is not the ideal place to debut a freshman in that spot.

Ringer is obviously the team's most valuable commodity, but he may get a chance to be the guy on kickoffs. MSU wants a difference maker there and he qualifies. That may change as the season wears on.

MSU brings back an underrated weapon in senior Todd Boleski. He has a huge leg and often kicks off into the end zone.

The most underrated position in football, long snapper, is manned by returning starter Alex Shackleton, and he was trouble free in 2007.