After losing their top three wide receivers from a year ago, the Missouri Tigers were looking for a spark in the receiving game prior to the 2014 season.

Why not do-it-all running back Marcus Murphy?

The senior tailback was tabbed in the offseason as Missouri’s new slot receiver, a different position for the 5-foot-9, 195-pound playmaker. Primarily a returner and backup running back, Murphy’s dynamic speed and playmaking ability certainly justified the move, but unfortunately the transition hasn’t been as smooth as Missouri originally thought it would be.

Murphy has just 12 receptions on the season and 109 receiving yards. He’s yet to have a game with more than three receptions and he looks more like a running back playing receiver. Murphy’s struggled to be a reliable target for quarterback Maty Mauk, dropping a crucial pass in the loss to Indiana, and the natural ability to create separation from a defender while running routes hasn’t been evident enough on a consistent basis.

In addition to the slot receiver experiment, Murphy was also listed as the second-string return man to begin the season, a curious move considering the All-SEC background Murphy possesses in the return game.

With an injury to backup running back Morgan Steward and an added emphasis on Murphy’s role in the receiving game, the coaching staff preferred to limit Murphy’s returns in hopes of keeping him free from injury.

But at his own insistence, Murphy assumed his usual role of starting return man and the move has paid dividends for the Tigers. It may have even saved their season.

He emphatically reminded everyone this past weekend of just how dangerous he can be with the ball in his hands, scoring three touchdowns against the Gators — a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown, a five-yard rushing touchdown, and an 82-yard punt return touchdown. He tallied a career-high 224 all-purpose yards and was the difference in Missouri’s win over the weekend.

RELATED: Murphy breaks Jeremy Maclin’s record for return TD

“You can’t coach reading those seams,” head coach Gary Pinkel said about Murphy’s returns. “[Special teams] coach Brian Jones will say he coached it, but he’s lying.”

“He shot through an area about eight inches wide, said Pinkel, describing Murphy’s 82-yard punt return. “It’s beautiful to watch it.”

It was a desperately needed win for the Tigers, who were fresh off a blowout loss of their own, a 34-0 defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs. Mizzou’s loss to UGA knocked them out of first place in the SEC East and officially put them behind the 8-ball with hopes of a repeat visit to Atlanta hinging on another Bulldogs’ loss.

Another defeat for Missouri last weekend against the Gators would have made it nearly impossible for the Tigers to win the SEC East, but it was the redshirt senior return man and his inspired play that came through for Missouri when the team needed it the most.

Offensively, the Tigers have struggled. Accumulating just 182 yards of offense per game in their three SEC contests this season, the Tigers offense has been painful to watch. If you remove the fourth quarter against South Carolina where Missouri rallied back to win with 14 points and 118 yards of offense, the numbers are even worse with the Tigers averaging 128 yards of offense against SEC opponents.

If the Tigers were to stay competitive within the division, they were going to need production elsewhere and that’s where Murphy has been so valuable. The school’s all-time leader with seven return touchdowns remains the team’s biggest playmaking threat and he proved it this past weekend with two return touchdowns and a rushing touchdown.

Upcoming for the Tigers are five SEC games against Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Arkansas. If the early offensive struggles in SEC play so far are any indication, Murphy’s impact in the return game and out of the backfield will be amplified to an even greater extent.

He’s in reach to break the school record for all-purpose yards set by Jeremy Maclin and he’ll need to continue his torrid pace if Missouri expects to keep up with the surging Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC East.

“He’s had a huge impact in the years he’s been here,” Pinkel said of his star all-purpose back. “Not only as a running back, but certainly as a kick returner, punt returner and playmaker.”