EMU ST: Another All-Timer to Replace

Image via Eastern Michigan Athletics

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Roster, Depth Chart

(Players in bold listed as starters (or shared starters) in EMU’s team notes)

Listed on preseason depth chart (P)

#39 Daniel Hull — Third-year transfer from Missouri (2023).
#38 Van Krisiloff — Freshman.

Listed on preseason depth chart (K)

#46 Rudy Kessinger — Third-year signee.
#37 Nathan Dibert — Second-year transfer from LSU (2022-24).

Listed on preseason depth chart (LS)

#42 Jack Kautz — Second-year transfer from Missouri (2022-24).

Listed on preseason depth chart (H)

#39 Daniel Hull — Third-year transfer from Missouri (2023).
#38 Van Krisiloff — Freshman.

Listed on preseason depth chart (KR)

#2 Nick Devereaux — Fifth-year transfer from Davenport (D2, 2021). Last year: Third Team All-MAC.
#3 Benson Prosper — Second-year Hutchinson C.C. transfer. Also played at Highland C.C. (2023). Last year: 2 starts.

Listed on preseason depth chart (PR)

#4 Juan Salas Jr. — Second-year transfer from Mt. San Antonio College (JUCO, 2024) and Southwest Baptist (D2, 2023)
#25 Quinn Fracassi (Valparaiso) — Incoming transfer. Returns to EMU (2022-24).

Listed on preseason depth chart (KO)

#37 Nathan Dibert — Second-year transfer from LSU (2022-24).
#46 Rudy Kessinger — Third-year signee.

Also on roster:

K, #33 Adam Samaha (Akron) — Incoming transfer. Also played at Michigan (2023-24). Spent the spring of 2025 at North Carolina.
LS, #41 Reeves Taylor (Independence C.C.) — Incoming transfer. Also played at Michigan State (2024, spring only) and Ventura College (2023). Last year: Played 3 games at quarterback.

On 3-pointers

Rudy Kessinger returns as Eastern Michigan’s main placekicker in 2025. He was a second-year signee with EMU last year and had big boots to fill. Jesus Gomez transferred to Arizona State for the 2025 season, and he knocked 50-yarders throughout his time in Ypsilanti (including the program’s longest field goal make of 57 yards at Washington).

Kessinger (17/23 FGs, 28/28 PATs) did make a 50-yard kick three games into the season, but neither the power nor the consistency was as reliable from him as it was with Gomez. His next two attempts from that far out (55, 53) were unsuccessful, and his next three longest makes would be from 49, 49, and 44 yards away. Kessinger had missed field goals in six games.

Also, let’s refresh this nugget I plugged into the spring game recap in April:

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At kicker, Rudy Kessinger is the returning leg for field goals while Nathan Dibert was a kickoff specialist last year. But if Friday’s spring game meant anything, it might mean that Dibert now has the upper hand (er, upper leg?) in this group. Kessinger went 0/5 on his field goal tries while Dibert was 4/6 with makes of 38, 43, 47, and 48 yards. His two misses were from 45 and 55 yards out.

Nathan Dibert, another returner who specialized in kickoffs last year, could be in the mix. So could Adam Samaha, a transfer who grew up locally and made EMU his fourth college stop.

On punting

Speaking of tough follow-up jobs, Mitch Tomasek left EMU as the best punter in school history. His name’s atop EMU’s punting records: best single-game punt average (52.4), best single-season average (46.2), and best career average (44.7).

Tomasek’s punting average last year was the 11th-best mark in the country.

Of his 212 kicks, 60 landed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, and 60 were for 50+ yards; 43 punts were fair caught, and 19 were downed as touchbacks.

Seriously, good luck following that up.

Daniel Hull, a second-year Missouri transfer, has yet to play. He and freshman Van Krisiloff are the two players listed in the punting unit this year.

On starting field position

The offense and punters will have to work together to fix one glaring issue. Since 2021, the two have given opponents too much starting field position.

Per BCFToys.com, EMU’s defensive starting field position ranked #45 nationally in 2021, but that figure dipped to #96, #104, #71, and #100 in subsequent years.

The defense and return specialists will have to work together to fix an even bigger problem, though. Last year’s offensive starting position was dead last in the country: 136th out of 136 teams.

Just four years ago, when EMU had a 9-win season (including a bowl win, as a cherry on top), the team had the 18th-best starting field position in the country.

One name deserves to immediately come to mind as to why: Jaylon Jackson. Jackson was an advanced kick returner with game-breaking speed who returned kickoffs at a 24.4-yard clip (40 attempts, 976 total yards) over the 2022-23 seasons. He had a touchdown in each season, and saw his average go down in his second year as opponents tightened up on his opportunities in the open field.

However, EMU’s starting field position ranking dropped from #18 to #121 in those seasons.

Why? One theory: Total team effort. Even though I said offensive starting field position can be fixed with better returners and defenders, EMU didn’t drop off in special teams from 2022 to 2023, and it finished with the same turnover margin that it had in 2022 (+1).

But the offense, with an inexperienced starting quarterback and a lack of star receiver after Darius Lassiter’s transfer to BYU, had a clear fall-off from the year before. The defense, as things would turn out, needed to win more of the field position battles to help cover for the offense’s deficiencies.

Theory two: Fewer interceptions by the defense. Same turnover margin at the end of the year, but the defense had fewer interceptions in 2023 (8 INT, 61 yards) than it did in 2022 (13, 142). Interceptions are caught in the air, which can be returned for any amount of helpful yards for the offense, whereas fumbles tend to bring bodies to the floor.

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