Bobcat coach Rob Ash picked Luke Daly as his starting kicker Thursday
Luke Daly Earns Nod as Starting Kicker
8/21/2014 4:56:00 PM | Football
Redshirt freshman to handle place-kicking and kickoff chores
Montana State football coach Rob Ash named redshirt freshman Luke Daly his starting kicker on Thursday.
Daly, from Billings Central, won the job after a strong finish to fall camp. He punctuated his performance by hitting all four of his field goals in a head-to-head kicking competition with junior Trevor Bolton and freshman Trevin Thompson after Saturday's scrimmage, nailing a 52-yarder on his final attempt.
"It's just been a dream for my whole life, and I went out there and attacked it every day and prepared myself since last spring," Daly said. "After Rory (Perez, MSU's place kicker the last two seasons) left in the fall, once winter conditioning started, I was like, it's game time, I've got to kick it into gear so I can compete in the fall."
All three kickers struggled at times during the fall competition, but Daly settled himself into the groove during the last week or so. "It was kind of difficult," he said, "because I knew I could do better. I kind of let the competition get into my head, I was more worried about what the other two guys were doing, not focusing on myself. Toward the end I started focusing on myself and started working on my technique, and it started getting better from there."
Ash said Daly will also handle kickoff chores. MSU's punter spot between junior Jake Bleskin and freshman Matt Stewart remains undecided.
Daly, from Billings Central, won the job after a strong finish to fall camp. He punctuated his performance by hitting all four of his field goals in a head-to-head kicking competition with junior Trevor Bolton and freshman Trevin Thompson after Saturday's scrimmage, nailing a 52-yarder on his final attempt.
"It's just been a dream for my whole life, and I went out there and attacked it every day and prepared myself since last spring," Daly said. "After Rory (Perez, MSU's place kicker the last two seasons) left in the fall, once winter conditioning started, I was like, it's game time, I've got to kick it into gear so I can compete in the fall."
All three kickers struggled at times during the fall competition, but Daly settled himself into the groove during the last week or so. "It was kind of difficult," he said, "because I knew I could do better. I kind of let the competition get into my head, I was more worried about what the other two guys were doing, not focusing on myself. Toward the end I started focusing on myself and started working on my technique, and it started getting better from there."
Ash said Daly will also handle kickoff chores. MSU's punter spot between junior Jake Bleskin and freshman Matt Stewart remains undecided.
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