CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas' special teams have a chance to be special this season, according to UCA head coach Nathan Brown.

    The Bears, who open the 2019 season at FBS Western Kentucky next Thursday in Bowling Green, Ky., lost a record-setting placekicker in Matt Cummins and a two-year starter at kick returner in Cedric Battle. But Brown foresees no dropoff in production from his special teams units heading into the season.

    Junior Hayden Ray will take over the kicking duties this season, after splitting some of the kicking tasks with Cummins during the 2017 campaign. He was 11 for 11 on point-after attempts and 2 for 2 on field goals while also handling some of the kickoff duties (15 for 58.1-yard average).

    "Very, very confident in Hayden Ray,' said Brown.  "He is a great story out of Bryant (Ark.) High School. He still holds the state record for most field goals in a season. You know, Hayden came here as a walk-on. He came here and earned a scholarship. When I got the head coaching job, he was one of the first people I put on scholarship, based on what he had done in the past and his work ethic and drive... I believe in Hayden Ray.

    "He has done a great job of solidifying himself as our field goal kicker. He's made a lot of kicks for this team in the past, with injures to Matt Cummins or whatever the case may have been. I'm expecting big things out of Hayden. He's one of the more accurate kickers I've been around. When you get the ball inside the 40, he's going to make the field goal.'

    The kickoff role could go to either Ray or true freshman Chandler Caughron (Evangelical Christian High School in Memphis).

    "Still an open competition, probably up until game week, for who will be the kickoff guy,' said Brown. "We brought in Chandler Caughron from Memphis. I'm very excited about his prospects. He has a big leg. We recruited him out of one of our kicking camps last summer, he was the MVP of it. He was rated one of the top 20 kickers in the nation by several organizations. A very highly recruited kid who decided to stay close to home. We're expecting big things out of him.

    "He's a dual type guy who can punt as well as kick. We'll have to see what his role is. I'd love for him to take the kickoff job and take that off Hayden if that's the way it works out.'

    UCA returns senior Taylor Wallace (Jackson, Miss.) to handle the punting duties. He averaged 39.1 yards per punt a year ago with a long of 59 and 14 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

    "To me, he is one of the more consistent punters in the league,' said Brown. "If you look back at our evaluations, looking at the way he punted the ball last year, he was just very consistent. You didn't see a whole lot of punts that he shanked or mis-hit. And now he's a year better, a year stronger, a year more confident in what we're trying to do. He can punt it pro style and he can also rugby, so we'll utilize both of those in our game plans.

    "Taylor is a guy that I can rest easy with him being our punter. He's very solid and he's going to put the ball where you want it to go.'

    Both snappers are returning for UCA in senior Reiv Wood (Grenada, Miss.) and sophomore Will Siler (Searcy, Ark.).

    "Reiv Wood is back as our starting snapper and I'm very excited about that,' said Brown. "He's worked hard in the offseason to get his pop time even faster. He really has a good pop to the way he snaps the ball, not only with field goals but with punts. He puts it where it needs to be. He's won a national championship  in junior college at East Mississippi (Community College), so he's been a part of winning programs. He had big moments last year with us. He's like the other guys, I expect big things from him.

    "And Will has done a great job. He's our back-up snapper but also our starting holder. He's worked extremely hard to earn a spot as a starter and found a way to help the team out. And then last year when Reiv got a concussion, Will had to jump in and be the snapper. So he was big for us last year and will be again this year.'

    Versatile redshirt freshman Brennan Claypoole could also figure in the mix.

    "Very pleased with Brennan Claypoole from El Dorado. He's a dual guy as well. He's gotten a lot stronger with his leg over the past year,' said Brown.

    There is a handful of players vying to replace Battle, who averaged 22.3 yard per return last year, good for third in the Southland Conference, and is third in UCA history in career kick return yards with 1,189 in just two seasons.

    "We lost Cedric Battle, who was a really, really good kick returner for us for the past two years, so that's been an open competition throughout spring practice  and fall camp,' Brown said. "But we feel really good about 3-4 guys that can really fill that role, starting with (redshirt freshman) Cameron Myers (6-1, 2-5, Plant City, Fla.). He has great size, good speed and he catches the ball well. I think he's good at one cut and then really getting north and south and making yards and finding holes. He's got a running back vision that helps him with that.

    "(Senior) Carlos Blackman (6-1, 228, Gosnell, Ark.) is another one that we feel great about back there. I think he has the ability to make big yards. Obviously we know he's a great running back but his ability to track the football in the air is a unique skill that he has.

    "And then we've got two freshmen that have really stood out, Christian Richmond and Tyler Hudson, both freshmen wide receivers. Both of those guys have a chance to be great returners here. We could really go with any of those four and be in great shape.'

    Brown said some of the same guys could be returning punts.

    "Right now we're going to start out with Tyler Hudson. He just tracks the ball extremely well, very confident in catching punts,' said Brown.  "You know, catching punts is a unique skill. It takes the ability to read the ball off the foot and kind of see which way it's tailing and where it will fall. He's got a great background in the return game and he's come in and done a great job in taking that role in fall camp. Christian Richmond is kind of in the same area as Tyler. Just very, very confident catching the ball.

    "Really, when you're looking for a punt returner, you're looking for confidence in catching the ball. Ultimately you'd love to have a guy back there who can so something with it, and both of those guys can, but you have to catch and secure the ball first. And both of those guys have done a great job with that in camp.

    "The third guy is Carlos. He did it for us some late in the season (a year ago) in some packages. I have confidence that all three of those guys can not only catch the ball solidly, but also have the ability to make something happen once they do catch it.'