Kickers Give Bears Solid Start with Special Teams for Season

CONWAY, Ark. — There will definitely be a mix of old and new faces on Central Arkansas’ special teams this fall.

Heading into Saturday’s season opener at Arkansas State, there are ongoing battles for the punting job as well as the punt and kick return spots. The only solid positions that feature returnees are placekicker (Jake Gaster and Jake Ward) and deep snapper (Kyle Gasaway).

“I’m actually really excited about our special teams prospects heading into the season,’ said Brown. “Getting Jake Gaster back after a very successful season last year. If you really break down his year, he really only truly missed two field goals. The other three misses were either blocked or a bad snap. He’s just so consistent.

“He’s really worked on his strength so I think we can push him back even farther this year on some field goal attempts. He’s more comfortable because he has the same snapper and holder he had last year, so that helps with cohesiveness and trust. It helps you sleep at night when you have a good placekicker.”

Gaster, from Frisco, Texas, and a transfer last year from Trinity Valley Community College, was 13 of 18 on field-goal attempts and 36 of 38 on point-after attempts in his first season at UCA. He was also an Academic All-District selection for his classroom work.

“We felt great for years with Hayden Ray, and you can go even before him with the guys we’ve had,” said Brown. “Gaster is no different. He took the job really quickly after we signed him and he’s a guy that I think is an all-conference, all-American type kicker.”

The comfort level with Gaster starts with the senior Gasaway (Memphis, Tenn.) doing the snapping.

“At deep snapper we’re in great shape because we return Kyle Gasaway. He’s a returning starter at that position,” said Brown. “He’s very consistent, he works at his craft constantly. He loves the game of football. And he’s not just a deep snapper. He wants to be in the weight room, he wants to be in tackling drills. He’s just a kid you really want to rally around.”

The kickoff duties will once again fall to senior Jake Ward (Bloomfield, Mich.).

“Jake Ward is our kickoff guy, and he’s going to continue to be ready at field goals if needed,” said Brown. “He had a lot of success with our kickoffs, really did a nice job placing kicks. We put more emphasis on placing kicks, putting it in the right spot, than we do just kicking it as deep as you can. And when we get the wind, obviously he can put it out of the back of the end zone, but it always seems like three or four times a year we’re playing in a strong wind, some type of elements. And he does a good job no matter what the elements are.”

Possibly the best competition in the entire fall practice has been between junior transfer Trace Beard (French Camp, Miss.) and sophomore Rhett Thurman (Cabot, Ark.) for the punting duties.

“The battle in fall camp has really been at punter,” said Brown. “You have to replace Chandler Caughron, who was a highly consistent presence there for three years and an All-Conference punter. So who’s going to replace him? We have Rhett Thurman, who has been a backup to Chandler for the last couple of years. He has probably the biggest punting leg on our team. He can put the ball deep and really put a lot of hang time on it. I’m excited to see what Rhett can do now that he knows he has a true opportunity to compete for the starting job.

“He will be competing with Trace Beard, who we signed out of East Central (Miss.) CC. He came in and had a tough spring with injuries so we didn’t see all of his potential. He had an emergency appendectomy right before spring ball, so he was never full speed. So what we’ve seen in the summer is him get better. So Trace and Rhett are going to have a battle in fall camp and we’re going chart it and we’re going to be tough on them, put the pressure on them as much as we possibly can and see who comes out on top.

“But I know both are going to compete and do a good job and I’m excited about that position.”

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.