That is a possibility. Sometimes un-noticed roots from various trees do pose an issue. I've reattached the magneto and did use a thin Teflon washer as a guide. I'm going to clean the auto-choke/carb and then re-attach it to the engine. I also replaced the spark plug and set the gap to .020.
Once the autochoke is back on, I'll attempt to pull start this guy. On another note, is it possible that the touch-n-mow starter/gear is out of spec? It is some type of plastic, maybe it's just worn in such a manner that it's no longer in alignment with the flywheel gear.