Bradley Boone Helping to Give Football's Special Teams Unit a Leg Up

By Mark Maloney, MSUEagles.com

With full facial hair and long-flowing locks that touch below his shoulders, Bradley Boone looks more rock star than football player. Make no mistake, though, he is special to the Morehead State football team.

A sophomore from Maysville, Boone is averaging 44.7 yards per punt through 19 attempts over four games. That average is No. 9 nationally in the FCS.

He has put only one ball into the end zone for a touchback. Four punts have resulted in a fair catch, seven have put the opponent inside the 20-yard line and seven have carried 50 yards or more.

As for his hair, Boone says he made a decision to "grow it out" more than two years ago, during his senior year at Mason County High School. He likes the look, and says others tell him they like it.

The hair seems to reflect the type of free spirit that can serve a punter well.

He's a funny guy," said Milo Austin, whose coaching duties include slots, tight ends and special teams coordinator. "He might miss (a punt) and you'll see him get upset with himself. But then he'll just lock right back in and get the job done. So he doesn't harp on things too long, which I love that about him most. He loves the game of football. He loves getting better. He wants to be the best."

Boone, a 6-foot-3, 217-pounder, played baseball, basketball and football in high school. He then headed to Union College in Barbourville, listed as a tight end and punter. He won the kicking job, averaging 37.6 yards over 52 attempts.

But he decided that Union "wasn't the right fit for me."

"It was like three hours away from home. I wasn't used to being away from home," he said. "I'm from Maysville, so it's just two counties over from here and I'm really familiar with Morehead. Played Rowan County in sports and everything, so I just felt like coming back closer to home. I have a bunch of friends that go to Morehead. Closer to my family."

Boone has shared tough times with family in recent years. During his junior year at Mason County, a brother died. Over the summer, cancer claimed the life of his mother, Angie.

With his dad Henry in charge, though, family is what holds Boone together.

"I have a huge family, a supportive family," he said. "I have two twin sisters and then I have two half-sisters and one half-brother that all have family, so we're a really big, close family. That's helped a lot."

Transfer rules kept him out of action last year. With a solid punter on the roster in Pat DiSalvio, Boone was utilized primarily as a scout team tight end.

But DiSalvio helped him with kicking. And, over winter break and summer, Boone wound up seeking the services of the same kicking coach who helped DiSalvio so much – former NFL and Ohio State standout Tim Williams.

He's been a big key in my success, helping me with little things that you wouldn't think about normally," Boone said. "My drop -- he changed my drop of the football. Watching my stance and the way I walk – sometimes I would cross over before and it would cause me to 'miss' the ball; it would send it to the left. … And my arm – bringing it up and not bringing it down through my swing. And following all the way through."

The off-season drills and, especially, more repetitions during practice, have resulted in a stellar season thus far. Plus, Boone has turned out to be a "perfect" passer. He's one-for-one, having pulled off a fake punt against Dayton last weekend with a 20-yard completion.

"The funny thing was they were saying 'watch the fake' the whole time, so I'm sitting back there thinking 'man, they might sniff this out,'" Boone said. "But we sent the dude in motion and then Jake Sutherland just went out to the flat and he was wide open. That was an easy dump-down pass.

"I played quarterback in high school, so we put some things in that we think will really work for now and the future to help us get some first downs and, hopefully, win some more ball games."

As an experienced quarterback, Boone said he was not nervous when the fake was called. Nor was Austin.

"That just speaks to the faith that we have in him, to put him in a type of situation like that – backed up in our own territory at a key moment," Austin said. "We trusted him enough to put the ball in his hands and that he would make a play, and he did."

An academic junior, Boone is a health and physical education major. He wants to become a teacher and a coach, and his plans seem to be coming together at MSU.

"It's an awesome campus. It's not too big, but it's not too small," he said. "… Here, you can get one-on-one help in your classrooms if you need it, and I really enjoy that. And it's close to home. I know the community well. Morehead just feels like home to me."

The Eagles (2-2, 1-0 Pioneer Football League) will leave home Saturday, traveling to Campbell for a 2 p.m. game.

Boone plans to kick in and do his part to get another win.

"You need all three phases of the game – special teams, defense and offense," he said. "And I just feel like we can help out the defense (with) field position and then scoring – our field goals and everything. We need to be on our game and keep playing really well. Our special teams has done really, really well so far this year. Hopefully, we can keep it up."

Print Friendly Version

RELATED NEWS