Roderick Proctor saw the punter in front of him Saturday night and was determined not to let history repeat itself.
Twice in his high-school career, Proctor had reached this point during a punt return. And both times, on this same sideline, he had been tackled by the punter and failed to score.
“I was like, ‘It can’t happen a third time. It can’t,’” Proctor said.
And it didn’t. Proctor swerved past Missouri State’s punter and sprinted to the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown return, the program's first since 2004. He said he was aware of that historic drought but not overtly thinking about it in the moment.