What We Saw: Camper Finds Form in Record Performance

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – About a month ago, Cayden Camper had missed three field goals in a row, and people were wondering how long he'd keep the job.

A week later, his teammates would surround him as he kicked at practice, and head coach Steve Addazio would take a whack at him with pads as other coaches threw things at his feet.

"Easy when you say that," Addazio joked. "I mean, what we did was create chaos for him at practice to get him used to that kind of atmosphere. The whole team comes out and gets around him and we take pads and throw 'em at his foot, distort him and push him, just to try to create chaos for him, but to watch his growth has been phenomenal."

As of Saturday evening, Camper is now a record holder at Colorado State. He hit all six of his field goal attempts in the 32-14 victory over San Jose State, pushing his consecutive conversions to 11; he was five-for-5 in the win over Toledo, and was never called upon on the road at Iowa.

It's been a tremendous turnaround for the Pueblo product, who has always had the leg, but was still developing consistency. He showed both in the game, as one of his six field goals was a career-best 53-yarder.

"I'm proud of Cayden. I remember when I was a freshman, I had an accountability team and he was on my team, and a lot of things happened, and he's battling to come back," linebacker Dequan Jackson said. "I love it. I love that for him, I love his journey. I hope he keeps going. We're putting the pressure on him in practice, and I think it's paying off. That guy is working hard."

Camper has made a load of adjustments since he first kicked for the Rams two years ago, his first appearance coming on the road at Arkansas. The junior had an up-and-down season as a true freshman in 2019, making two field goals against the Razorbacks, but finishing the season making 7-of-13 attempts, including a 50-yarder against UNLV.

To him, it seems like years ago when people were doubting him, noting the bad times won't last long if you don't allow them. It's about making adjustments in all phases. Does he do his homework or go out? Now, it's easy for him to make the smart choice.

Two things have led to his turnaround. He said the chaos at practice has helped; though he thought it was odd at first, it helped him slow things down and focus. Two, he also needed to make an alteration to his form.

"The Orange Out game, after I took my three steps back and to the side, I was sitting back in my stance, usually on my heels," he said. "What I would realize was that the snap would come, and I'd still be back on my heels, so I'd really have to push myself forward. You only get 1.2 seconds to get the field goal off, so I was rushing myself kicking the ball. Now what I do, once I get in my stance, I have my kicking foot tucked behind my left foot and I have it up on my toe and I'm leaning forward. I don't feel as rushed, and I feel focused more."

Things are going so well for him now, San Jose State even got a hand on one of attempts, but he still slid it through. He just sticks to his routine now, on the sidelines and when he steps on the field. He's not thinking about it, he's just doing it. But it feels much better to approach something with confidence than with questions.

"I talk to Ryan Stonehouse a lot," he said. "I talked to Stoney, especially after that 0-for-2 game, and he was just telling me, 'slow the game down, and once the snap comes in, just rip it. Just kick the ball like you always kick the ball.'

"He said I was thinking too much. So when I go out there, I am for the upright and I kick it as hard as I can. That's the game plan."

Our Ball

Colorado State's defense has played well since the first game of the season, limiting teams in terms of yardage, especially when it comes to running the ball. In those four games, the Rams have not allowed a team to rush for more than 114 yards (San Jose State hit the mark Saturday), and in the past three weeks, the Rams have not allowed 300 yards of total offense.

What they hadn't done was create turnovers, but that changed against the Spartans, as they produced their first multi-turnover game of the season. Jack Howell snared the first interception of his career, and Cian Quiroga recovered his first fumble.

And while not a turnover officially, the Rams pounced on a muffed punt.

All three directly led to Camper field goals.

"It felt great. To be honest with you, we've been working that, we hit the turnover circuits more in practice this week," said defensive end Scott Patchan, whose sack led to the fumble recovery. "I think that was a point of emphasis we were working on in practice, and we wanted to get better at creating more turnovers and creating more havoc. I think we really accomplished that today."

Addazio noted to be a great team starts with great defense. Playing well was a start, but not enough.

The Rams have forced just three turnovers entering the game. They had one interception the week before at Iowa (also by a true freshman, Robert Floyd), and forced two fumbles, one each against Vandy and Toledo. Saturday's production felt like another step was taken.

"It's been a big emphasis for us," linebacker Dequan Jackson said. "I think we pride ourselves on being physical and stopping the run and all those great things, and those are good, but in order to be an elite defense, you've got to be able to get the offense the ball back. They capitalize on those opportunities. To play a complete ball game, those are the kind of things we need to do."

Red Zoned

The good news is Colorado State produced points each time they entered the red zone on Saturday. The down side is all four were field goals. It hasn't been a season-long problem, not by a long shot. The Rams turned both trips against Iowa into touchdowns, and they scored three in four chances against Vandy, three of five vs. South Dakota State, but settled for three kicks in as many chances in the win over Toledo.

Like everything else with his team, Addazio wants to see them capitalize to the fullest.
"We left a lot of points on the field," he said. "We had a lot of field goals when there's certainly tremendous touchdown opportunities, and that's that other step I feel we need to take where we need to be cleaner longer in these drives. We get to the end of these drives and have a tendency to maybe lose our focus there. These are all growing pains and things we need to keep working at."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results