TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It was an unseasonably cool day at Memorial Stadium this morning for Day Four of Training Camp for the Sycamore Football team. Friday was the final day in just helmets and shoulder pads for ISU, as the team suits up in full pads tomorrow morning.
 
After dissecting the offense and the defense in our first two previews, today we're taking a look at the equally important third phase of the game: special teams.
 
The special teams should play an especially vital role for the Sycamores in 2017, as ISU's lone Preseason All-MVFC member (aside from Honorable Mention RB LeMonte Booker) is sophomore kicker Jerry Nunez. As a freshman, Nunez was lights-out, earning Second-Team All-MVFC after leading the MVFC in field goal percentage (83.3) on a 15-of-18 clip. His percentage tied a single-season school record set by Tanner Fritschle in 2012, and his 74 total points scored ranks as the eighth-best scoring season in school history.
 
Nunez's resume from his freshman year is full of other such qualifiers, like being one of nine FCS kickers to start the season 7-for-7, or ending the season 7-of-8 from 40 yards or longer.
 
Also having an excellent first season with the Sycamores was junior college transfer punter Thomas Bouldin, who returns for his senior season in 2017. Bouldin ranked fourth in the Valley with 41.0 yards per attempt, also the 35th-best in the FCS in 2016. He also accounted for the longest punt of the season in the Valley, a 70-yarder at Southern Illinois, which also qualified as the 12th-best in the nation at season's end.
 
Also returning is kickoff specialist Andrew Lunsford for his senior season. Since transferring to Indiana State in 2015, Lunsford has been a very beneficial piece of the special teams puzzle with 36 total touchbacks on kickoffs.
 
One massive loss for the Sycamores, though, was the departure of two-time All-American long snapper Joshua Appel after a storied Indiana State career as arguably the best long snapper in the nation – regardless of division.
 
"You don't realize how valuable guys are until you don't have them anymore," said ISU head coach Curt Mallory. "But we've got some guys that have stepped in that are competing at that long snapping and the short snapping, so we feel like we have a chance to be pretty darn good."


 
And that is normally the beauty of special teams for all schools across the country: it's a chance for players lower on the depth chart to prove themselves worthy of a higher slot. Many a lowerclassman has put in the effort on kickoffs and punts and parlayed that into a bigger role. Take sophomore linebacker Jonas Griffith, who put in quality time on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2015, and translated that into a role as a key reserve linebacker in 2016 and now potentially a starter in 2017.
 
"Young or old, we're going to have every single member of this team contribute on special teams," said special teams coordinator Kevin Abrams.
 
That will be the case on returns, where the Sycamores are blessed with speedy, talented returners – both young and old. Running back LeMonte Booker enters his final season with the Sycamores with 2,321 career all-purpose yards – 1,079 of those coming on kick returns. But with Booker potentially being the main weapon in the backfield, the Sycamores can also turn to senior WR Bob Pugh (323 total return yards in 2016), senior CB Rondell Green (233 total return yards in 2016) and RB Jaquan Keys (106 kick return yards in 2016), among many other talented newcomers who could potentially earn the spot.
 
Whatever the case ends up being for the Sycamores on special teams, Mallory and his staff are committed to making it a key facet of every practice. One needs only to look at the coaching responsibilities to see that, as Abrams is in an unusual role for an FCS assistant coach: special teams is his only duty.
 
"Kevin spends 100 percent of his time with special teams," Mallory said. "If you're going to say it's a special unit and one of the top three phases, you better put just as much emphasis on it as you do offense and defense."
 
"I love that it's not about the individual," Abrams said. "We're going to have a team-first mentality on special teams and everywhere across the board. We're going to play this game with our head and our heart."
 
Stay tuned to GoSycamores.com – as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages – for extensive coverage and position previews this season, including video content courtesy of Luke Martin.