With the season fast approaching, Luke Daly continues to search for consistency.
Montana State’s sophomore kicker tied Jason Cunningham’s freshman record with 13 field goals in his first season. During two weeks of fall camp, Daly has shown added strength and distance but his accuracy has been largely missing.
He’s had one day where he has made all his kicks in a live situation. He’s missed a noticeable amount of live kicks during the two-week fall camp. During Saturday’s scrimmage, Daly nailed two 47-yard attempts. But he also missed from 25 yards away.
“It’s tough for specialists when we first kick off camp because we don’t do a lot in live situations,” MSU special teams coach Daniel DaPrato said. “We are trying to evaluate all of the other players for all of our units so we are doing tons of circuits.”
Daly
It’s clear Daly is stronger. When he first arrived at Montana State from Billings Central High, he weighted 170 pounds. Now he’s up around 190. His added mass has meant added distances to his kicks. He has hit from beyond 50 yards on multiple occasions this camp. But he’s also had misses like Saturday, a chip shot that shanks wide to the right or left.
“The key to kicks is to kick everyone the same,” Montan State head coach Rob Ash said. “As a youngster, he’d get to 45 yards, 50 yards and he would think he has to swing harder. Luke doesn’t have to do that. He has such a strong leg, he just needs to kick every kick exactly the same.”
Daly said he had strength coach Alex Wilcox modify his lifting program in an effort to enhance his strength and flexibility simultaneously. He doesn’t emphasize heavy weight like most of his teammates.
“Work smarter rather than harder,” Daly said. “I don’t need to be lifting really heavy and it’s not worth getting injured over it and ruining my career. I worked a lot more technique on the field. I kicked a lot less actually. I filmed myself and watched a lot of film.”
Part of Daly’s inconsistency early was due to Montana State practicing on grass at Dyche Field instead of on the turf at Bobcat Stadium. Daly admitted it was a much harder surface to kick off of. Despite Daly’s early battle to lock in, DaPrato still has full confidence in the player that earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors by scoring 90 points last season.
“Luke had a great off-season and he’s maturing on and off the field,” DaPrato said. “That’s really helping. Shoot, he’s a redshirt sophomore. He’s growing up as he goes and he’s doing a really good job.”
Daly
During the off-season, Daly welcomed his son Ryker to the world. Although Daly doesn’t disclose details of Ryker’s mother, he said he “loves being a dad” and that the shift in his life has given him more confidence on the field.
“It’s taken a lot of pressure off of my shoulders,” Daly said. “I know there’s a lot more to life now. The stresses of come with having a kid are a lot greater than missing a field goal. Now if I miss, I can move on to the next one.”
During 2014’s fall camp, Daly found himself in a heated battle with Trevor Bolton and Trevin Thompson for the starting kicker duties. Now Bolton is an honors candidate as a punter and Thompson is no longer on the team.
Rocky Hogue, MSU’s starting sophomore long snapper, returns as does primary holders seniors Mitch Griebel and Tanner Roderick. That adds to Daly’s comfort level. Now he’ll just have to manage his newfound responsibilities off the field with the pressure of making kicks on it.
“I don’t really feel like anything dramatically changed,” Daly said. “But it will be difficult managing my time. It will be a challenge. This fall will definitely be a test run for what it’s like to be a dad and a student and an athlete.”
While MSU’s specialist positions are all but sewn up, the battle for positions on kick teams rages on. Montana State will have to figure out its top 58 players before getting on the bus to Eastern Washington for a non-conference showdown on Sept. 19.
Bolton, Houge, Coach Ash, Daly, Tandberg
“We are going to have to start looking at it because we are deeper, with 60 or 65 guys than we’ve been so it will be tougher to cut down to the 58 than previous years,” Ash said. “Special teams will play a huge factor in that. You’ll have to be able to play special teams if you are going to travel.”
Since DaPrato took over as MSU’s special teams coordinator, the units have seen marked improvement. Now he has a collection of players he must choose from to cover kicks and punts.
“We are deeper than we’ve been since I’ve been here,” DaPrato said. “That’s a good problem to have.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
