Sunday – Offensive Preview
Monday – Defensive Preview
Today – Special Teams Preview
Wednesday – Week 1 at Eastern Oregon Preview

ASHLAND – Perhaps more quietly than in other aspect of the game, recent iterations of the Southern Oregon football team have been among the NAIA's best in special teams play across the board.

During the 2015 season, then-senior Thomas Giddens ranked first nationally in punting yards per attempt (43.2), Marcus Montano was second in scoring (102 points) among kickers, and SOU was fourth as a team in average kickoff return yards (22.7) and 13th in punt return yards (12.5).

Nathan Chin, a sixth-year special teams coordinator and first-year assistant head coach, has Montano at his disposal again to handle placekicking and punting duties, and All-Frontier return specialist and receiver Matt Retzlaff will be joined by a couple of the quickest players on the roster in setting up SOU's drives.

Montano was a four-time conference all-star on the soccer field at Manteca High (Calif.), and during his true freshman season he became a reliable option and a pivotal performer. In his first collegiate outing at Carroll he connected on field-goal attempts of 41 and 38 yards, and in his second against Eastern Oregon he hit the game-winning 27-yarder with four seconds on the clock. He finished 12 of 18, including 9 of 11 from inside 40 yards with a long of 42, and also made 42 consecutive point-after tries at one point on his way to a 66-of-70 mark.

Montano was strong on kickoffs, too, with 24 touchbacks and an average of 59 yards on 93 attempts. This year, though, he'll be asked to punt for the first time.

"Through fall camp he's been pretty good and his consistency is getting better every day," Chin said. "He's definitely eased some of our concerns about the punting situation."

Louis DesPrez is listed as the backup at both positions. Jake Scarminach, a junior transfer and former Ashland High star, will serve as the long-snapper, taking over for four-year starter Grant Torgerson (who is now a defensive assistant).

The shiftiness and strength of Retzlaff continues to make him as dangerous as any return man in SOU history. Opponents will have to choose between him and the Raiders' fastest player, tailback Louis Macklin, on kickoffs, while Retzlaff and speedy corner AJ Cooper will handle punt returns.

Retzlaff is second on SOU's list for career punt return yardage with 512, still well behind leader Nick Daniken (854), a former Raider great and two-time All-American defensive back. But Retzlaff's career return average (15) is actually higher than Daniken's (12.5), and last year he ranked fourth in the NAIA in that category with a clip of 15.7 that was helped by his school-record-breaking TD return of 91 yards at College of Idaho.

"Even though he's not the fastest, Matt's one of the most dynamic return guys we've had," Chin said.

He was also second in the conference in kickoff return average (31.4 yards) and brought back a 95-yarder at Carroll that was the fifth-longest TD return in SOU history. With last year's primary kickoff returner JJ Latu gone, Macklin will step in after getting one opportunity and taking it for 31 yards in 2015. Likewise, Cooper steps into an opening that was created by the departure of Latu, who returned 29 punts last season.