BOZEMAN — The special teams unit at Montana State returned a couple key veterans, including an All-American, while adding some freshmen who made strides this fall camp while having big shoes to fill this upcoming season.
Placekicker Myles Sansted quickly became one of the most experienced veterans in the room once last season ended. He’s prepared mentally and physically to bring his game to the next level this season.
"Kicking, so much of it is a mental piece, so I’ve been working on that, reading books, meeting with sports psychologists, things like that, just doing everything I can to make sure that my mental is 100%," he said.
"I just want to be able to be the quarterback of the special teams where if something goes wrong, I can make this right and make sure that we’re dialed in, and the end result is three points on the board or one point on the board. I’ll kick as many PATs as we can. I mean, if we get to kick 85 PATs again this year, we’re going to be in a good spot."
Montana State head coach Brent Vigen went into detail about the strides Sansted has made this offseason.
"I think he’s added some leg," he said. "Our ability to go beyond 50 (yards) will be there this year with him. I think that was kind of our range last year. We’ve been real consistent, though."
A freshman duo will be stepping in to fill the departure of Brendan Hall and Tommy Sullivan. Colby Frokjer is the punter and kickoff specialist, while Brody Johnson is the new long snapper.
"It’s definitely a lot different coming from the fall camps that I’m used to back in high school, playing three different positions," Frokjer said. "Going from that to just specializing in my punting and kicking, it’s definitely been a little bit of a transition, but the deeper into fall camp we’ve gotten, I’ve started to get it more figured out, and I think it’s really helped out being able to just focus on my kicking."
Now focusing on punt returning, the Bobcats have one of the best in the nation with All-American Taco Dowler.
"Special, and I think that turns into, how do we make sure Taco can do what Taco does? And sometimes you’re shocked at what the limits on that are because I don’t know if that ceiling’s been identified yet," Montana State special teams coordinator Marcus Monaco said. "So making sure we get him in a situation that he can go be a special player."
When it comes to the kick returners, Vigen mentioned Adam Jones, Chris Long and Jabez Woods among the names they will look to in that part of the game.
"Jabez’s ability has shown up more, for you guys more on the offensive side," Vigen said. "You know, (making) people miss is certainly a piece in what the return game could look like. So I think we have some real capable guys, and I think some real explosive guys at the same time."
