Before the end of his media session Saturday, Mississippi State special teams coordinator Eric Mele made sure to say his piece.
Mele spent the 2006 season as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Saint Peter’s College — now Saint Peter’s University — in New Jersey. On Friday night, Saint Peter’s upset Purdue to become the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.
So Saturday, Mele made sure to shout out the Peacocks and highlight their “unbelievable run” — despite long odds. The school’s home gym holds just 3,200 people and has barely that many students.
“All of the stories about the resources and facilities are true,” Mele said.
In just two weeks, Saint Peter’s has catapulted itself into the spotlight. Mele, meanwhile, is trying to stay out of it.
Last year’s Mississippi State special teams unit gained notoriety for its bottom-of-the-pack performance in several key areas, notably field goal kicking.
Missed field goals hurt the Bulldogs in a loss to Ole Miss and cost them a chance for a road win at Arkansas. Righting the ship in that category alone could have changed MSU’s fortunes considerably.
“Nobody notices when you go through another clean football game, but they will notice some of those mistakes and some of those errors,” Mele said. “We clean those up, we start making plays on our end, it can help us win those extra couple games a year.”
In his first year as the Bulldogs’ special teams coordinator — a role he held at three other schools — Mele is now tasked with turning around Mississippi State’s unit.
Three days and two practices into the spring, at least, he’s pleased with the results.
“It’s been great,” Mele said of the competitions at both kicker and punter. “It’s a good environment for those guys to push each other to see who’s going to win these jobs.”
Mississippi State went 14 for 25 on field goals in 2021. Brandon Ruiz declared for the NFL draft, and Nolan McCord transferred to Western Kentucky. Kickoff specialist Scott Goodman, meanwhile, played his final season with the Bulldogs in 2021.
Mele said Coastal Carolina transfer Massimo Biscardi and walk-on Ben Raybon from Northern Colorado will be in the mix for the positions. Biscardi made 46 of 57 field goals (81 percent) in four seasons with the Chanticleers, while Raybon made 13 of 21 kicks over two seasons for the Bears.
“Both those guys can compete for the field goal and kickoff jobs,” Mele said. “Two guys that are combo guys who have played in college before, been successful, so that’s exciting to see who kind of wins that job.”
Mele listed eight players currently returning punts for the Bulldogs: wide receivers Austin Williams, Lideatrick Griffin, Rufus Harvey, Christian Ford, Jordan Mosley and Jarnorris Hopson; running back Ke’Travion Hargrove; and cornerback Emmanuel Forbes.
“To me, spring’s a great chance to evaluate — at all these units, at all these positions — a ton of our guys and also develop some of these younger guys,” Mele said.
Mele took over special teams from Matt Brock when Leach shuffled the Mississippi State coaching staff on Jan. 31. Jason Washington moved from safeties to running backs, taking Mele’s old spot; Brock will now coach all linebackers with defensive coordinator Zach Arnett taking on safeties.
Mele said he can rely on Brock to run special teams drills if needed and praised the changes Leach made to shake things up.
“He felt like it would be a good chance for me to step back in there and make some different staff changes, too, just to keep everything fresh and new voices and guys in different spots,” Mele said. “To have other guys on staff who have also coached special teams who are behind me and supportive, that’s huge, too.”
Now Mele is back on special teams, a position group he fell in love with after playing Division III football and getting his start as the special teams coordinator at William Paterson. He held the same role at Wingate (North Carolina) and under Leach at Washington State.
“I’ve been a soldier for old Coach Leach,” Mele said. “This is Year 11.”
He now has a tough task in rebuilding the Bulldogs’ special teams, but he credited the “great foundation” Brock laid in Starkville.
It’s now up to Mele to take it from there.
“As far as a starting point goes, this is a lot higher than I’ve had in the past,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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