How golf and work with Harrison Mevis prepared Mizzou kicker Blake Craig for starting role
COLUMBIA, Mo. — You can learn a lot about a placekicker by playing golf with him, apparently.
That's what Harrison Mevis says, anyway, and the golf course is where the former Missouri kicker realized that Blake Craig, his successor, has the mental wherewithal to impress in the college game.
Kicking, Mevis explained to the Post-Dispatch this week, "is a lot like golf. It's 90% mental and 10% physical. ... What do you do when you miss a kick? Do you go downhill? Do you miss two or three more, or do you come back and make the next kick when it matters?"
He and Craig overlapped last season with the Tigers. Mevis kicked a Southeastern Conference-high 24 field goals while becoming Missouri's all-time leading scorer. Craig earned a few cameos as a kickoff specialist but mostly worked behind the scenes to take over Mizzou's kicking mantle.
And the duo even found time to hit the links to talk about the fortitude necessary to last as a kicker.
"We've been out golfing a couple times, so we've been able to talk about it," Mevis said. "He has that."
Craig entered this season expected to be the starter , though he had yet to attempt a field goal at the collegiate level. As the No. 2-ranked kicker in his recruiting class, expectations were high, but he was still an unknown.
In the Tigers' season opener against Murray State, Craig cashed in on every kick he tried — three field goals and six extra points. He made five extra points in the second game of the season, against Buffalo, but was just 1 for 3 on field goals.
That's where Mevis' point about the mental side came into play.
"He taught me a lot on the mental side of kicking, and physically," Craig said. "Everything he taught me is stuff I still apply in my everyday approach."
When Craig lined up for a 56-yard field goal try against Boston College last weekend, he smoked it. Based on where the ball passed between the uprights, his kick likely would've been good from a fair bit farther back.
And, funnily enough, Craig's big kick was on the same side of hash marks that Mevis' career-highlight 61-yard walkoff make came from.
"I was thinking that in my mind," coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "Man, that's pretty ironic."
Craig was named the SEC's special teams player of the week for that kick and going 4 for 4 on field goals against the Eagles.
While both the 2024 season and his career are in their early stages, he's showing the potential that was there back when Missouri recruited him to be the kicker of the future.
"He's put in a lot of work," Drinkwitz said. "He's always been a really confident kid. He's always been confident in himself. The players and coaches demonstrate confidence in him too. Like the question last week: 'Were we concerned about him because he missed a couple of longer field goals?' And the answer was no. We knew he would be able to make it when we needed."
Mevis, having worked closely with Craig last season, was plenty confident in how the transition would go, in part because Craig had a year to practice, work in the weight room and pick the brain of his mentor before he ever had to attempt a kick.
"That was really big for him. That was something that I didn't have," Mevis said. "I came in and I was thrown into the fire as a freshman. ... Nowadays, you see quarterbacks in the NFL or certain positions, they're waiting a year and they watch a certain player. Then they play their second year."
Mevis had watched film of Craig while the latter was going through his high school recruiting process. Starring at Liberty North in the Kansas City area Craig kicked the fifth- and seventh-longest field goals in Missouri high school history, converting from 56 and 53 yards out on those respective kicks. He also set state records for field goals in a season, career field goals and career points by a kicker.
That, plus wins at kicking camps that included makes from beyond 60 yards, had Mevis convinced he would be joined on the roster by a "really good fundamental kicker," he said. But he found himself especially impressed by how Craig entered the program.
"He didn't approach it as, 'Oh, I'm going to sit and wait,'" Mevis said. "He wants to play immediately. He acted like he was going to play every week, so he pushed me, in a sense."
Drinkwitz said strength coach Ryan Russell routinely praises Craig as one of MU's most consistent performers in the weight room. And while Drinkwitz cheekily pointed out the two kickers wear different jersey sizes, he has spotted a key similarity.
"Both of them relish the opportunity for them to compete and bring value to the team," he said.
At the moment, one of the things separating Craig from Mevis, though, is his lack of an established nickname. Mevis' stocky physique earned him the "Thicker Kicker" moniker, a nickname even applied to a local burger.
There are a few options out there for Craig already: Blake the Make, the Thinner Kicker, Craig the Leg. This writer gravitates toward that last one but needed to put the question to the nicknamed kicker who would know best.
Back in Columbia as an NFL free agent, the Thicker Kicker agreed.
"Shoot, Craig the Leg has got to be it," Mevis said. "I mean, come on. That's solid. But let him make some kicks first. He's got a few under his belt, so let him get a few more, and then we'll go from there. He's definitely got a lot more to come."
Mizzou beat writer
