Small failure in fall camp turns into success, new perspective for Montana's Brandon Purdy
AMIE JUST 406mtsports.com
MISSOULA — As Brandon Purdy came off the field after missing a field goal in fall camp, he looked into his teammates' eyes on the sidelines.
They made all that effort down the field and came up empty handed.
In that moment, Purdy felt humbled.
"This is way bigger than me," he remembers telling himself. "This is way bigger than the percentages we all think about and making every kick. I'm kicking for this team and for my brothers."
That moment changed Purdy's entire perspective on his relatively new starting job as placekicker.
His coaches have seen his changed mentality, too.
"Brandon's really grown since he's been here," special teams coordinator Travis Niekamp said. "We didn't know what we had when he first came on campus, but he's worked his tail off and I think he's worked himself into being a pretty darn consistent kicker."
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Purdy's journey to football wasn't like most of his college teammates.
A native of Kalispell and an alumnus of Glacier, he spent most of his life playing soccer.
He was good, too. He lettered all four years for the Wolfpack.
Football only came to mind after Glacier football coach and former Griz quarterback Grady Bennett asked Purdy if he'd consider joining the team.
"He came up to me and said, 'Hey, we don't have a kicker. We want you to kick,'" Purdy recalled.
So Purdy played two sports in one fall season, making for an extra busy routine.
"It was cool because he was really flexible with my soccer schedule," Purdy said. "There were about only two games that ever conflicted. It was kinda gruesome running back and forth between soccer practice and football, but I think it paid off as far as the hard work goes. It definitely helped having (Coach Bennett) support me through it all."
Even though Purdy just suited up for the Wolfpack for two seasons in 2013 and 2014, he has two Montana state high school records. He owns records for most extra points kicking for a season (71) and for a career (128).
Purdy had scholarship offers from a few NAIA programs coming out of high school but jumped at the prospect of walking on at Montana, although it didn't happen exactly how he planned.
He was in contact with former Montana defensive coordinator Ty Gregorak before he left for Montana State and then got in touch with current wide receivers coach Mike Ferriter in the summer leading up to his freshman year in 2015.
"They were like, 'You could walk on and we'd love to have you,'" Purdy said, recalling old conversations. "I dropped all those other offers and then the (Montana) roster filled up real quick. Once the roster filled up, they let me know and said, 'We don't really have a spot for you anymore.' At that point, I was like, 'OK. I want to go to school here. This is my dream,' and I was gonna fight for it."
Purdy, now a sophomore, attended the university as a regular student in the fall before attending the open tryout the following spring.
After impressing the coaches through spring workouts, Niekamp told him in an exit interview that he made the team.
"'You did pretty well. We were excited,'" Purdy recalls Niekamp saying. "'We want you to come back for fall camp and compete.'
"It was amazing. I called my dad right away. I was like, 'Dad. This is crazy. They're bringing me into fall. That was my course. I came to the university hoping for an opportunity and they gave me one. If I had the opportunity, I'd be able to do something with it and it's been fun, a dream come true for sure."
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Purdy said he has a faint memory of being right-handed, but that didn't last long.
"I used to play baseball right-handed," Purdy said. "I used to kick right-handed. And my dad made me a lefty. It actually paid off. It's something unique. Some coaches don't ever see it."
Niekamp has coached various positions around the country since 1998 and had never coached a left-footed kicker before, other than the one who was "screwed up," as he says.
"I had a kicker that ... kicked left-footed, punted right-footed, but threw right-handed," Niekamp said. "(Brandon's) my first one. He's doing a good job."
Sometimes there are challenges that come with being different. Purdy's intro to Montana football had some hiccups, though the difficulty was something he couldn't exactly control.
Along with punter Eric Williams, Purdy attended Montana's 2016 spring tryout. Niekamp said of the six or so kickers who tried out, Purdy was the only left-footed kicker.
Only one person — Makena Simis — knew how to hold for a left-footed kicker.
"We ran into a lot of issues early on that first spring of making sure Makena was gonna be the holder because nobody else could do it," Niekamp said. "It was a little unique. You don't think anything about it until you find out nobody's held for him and it becomes a little awkward."
Now all the holders know how to hold for both Purdy and Tim Semenza, the team's other kicker who's right-footed.
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As the season moves on, Purdy holds onto the feeling he had after he missed the field goal in fall camp.
He knows how important his job is, not only for his teammates, but for Griz Nation.
"If I miss a kick in a game, it's not just my team that's suffering, it's the whole fan base," Purdy said. "We can't dwell on those little things and get in our own heads. It's a lot bigger than that. It's not about us. ... It's about trying our best to get our team a win."
And with Purdy on the field, Montana has that chance.
So far this season, he has made all 15 of his PAT attempts and his lone field goal try.
"To have someone just like you who came in as a tryout have success, it's a lot of fun because you want them to succeed almost as bad as you want yourself to succeed," Williams said. "I'm really happy for him."
But Purdy doesn't credit himself for the accuracy. He credits his fellow specialists and the rest of the fourth-down crew.
"When you have someone like (Matthew O'Donoghue) snapping the ball and Makena (Simis) holding the ball with my eight other linemen blocking, it makes it so much easier," Purdy said. "Being able to see that ball a bit longer with OD's fast snaps, but then, having that front line that are just unstoppable, it's pretty great."