Already one of the best punters in the nation, Morstead said he expects to improve on last year's average of 43.9 yards per punt (photo by Travis Johnston).

"A freak." "Amazing." "Unbelievable." "The best."

Ask teammates about SMU punter/kicker Thomas Morstead, and the responses you get won’t be what most expect to hear when talking about a player at his positions. If ever there was a player who doesn’t fit traditional punter stereotypes, Morstead is that player.

The common assumption is that kickers and punters are former soccer players who transferred their skills to the gridiron, and in Morstead’s case, that much is true - the senior-to-be from Pearland, Texas, did play soccer in high school. But beyond that, very little about Morstead is normal.

At 6-foot-5 and about 235 pounds, Morstead is bigger than about a half dozen of the basketball players who will suit up for Matt Doherty’s Mustangs next fall. While many kickers and punters enjoy a fitness regimen that includes a lot of stretching and kicking, and little else, Morstead is an exception to the rule, strapping on a lead vest and chugging uphill in the summer heat, and working for hours in the weight room.

And while few kickers and even fewer punters get drafted by an NFL team, Morstead thinks - make that obsesses - about being the next punter to hear his name called in the NFL’s annual meat market, next April.

"I think about it all the time," he said. "If a punter is drafted, I want to be that guy. I’ll go to the (NFL) Combine, and I’ll do everything they want me to do. I’ll run the 40, I’ll do the bench (whereas some punters can’t bench press their own weight a single time, Morstead has benched the standard 225 pounds ... 22 times), I’ll do the vertical jump, the broad jump - doesn’t matter. If a team is thinking about drafting a punter, and I can make them think I’m a better athlete and that’s what they use to make their decision, then it’s worth it."

Already one of the best punters in the nation, Morstead said he expects to improve on last year's average of 43.9 yards per punt (photo by Travis Johnston).

Given his position, getting drafted is anything but a guarantee, but Morstead’s professional dreams are not pipedreams. He is, after all, the returning first-team All-Conference USA first-team punter, having averaged 43.9 yards on 58 punts, many of which were so high they seemed headed for outer space. The number that gives him greater pride, however, is his net average of 39.3 - a mark that ranked Morstead at No. 8 in the entire nation.

"We want to have the No. 1 net punting average, because that means we’re the best punting team in the country," Morstead said. "It’s not my individual average that matters, it’s the net average. We finished at No. 8 last year, and we’re going to be better this year. My leg is stronger, and (new special teams) Coach (Frank) Gansz is awesome. There’s nothing about special teams he doesn’t know. We’re going to cover better and we’re going to tackle better - we’re going to be a better punting team."

Morstead, who has virtually coached himself since he got to SMU ("A lot of things I do, I don’t know if they’ll help, so I do experiment on my own," he said), said that the idea that his statistics will slip when the Mustangs unleash the high-powered offense taught by new head coach June Jones is inaccurate. Instead, he said he could benefit as much as anyone from Jones’ aggressive approach.

"He said he’s not interested in destroying my average - not that my average is what’s important, but there were a lot of times last year when we tried to pin the other team down deep in its end with a short punt," Morstead said. "Coach said that’s not the plan anymore. We’re going to go for it more this year, so when I do get to punt, I get to really hit it. My leg is stronger than last year. I’m stronger. If we’re going to go for it more when we’re closer in, my average should go up."

If that’s not enough of a headache for coaches who want to engage in a battle of field position with the Ponies, Jones’ unorthodox coaching style allows for wrinkles that most coaches won’t consider. In Morstead's case, those twists could include fakes (Morstead insists he can throw deep, but admits "I just need to work on my touch") ... and possibly even a dropkick.

Morstead said new special teams coach Frank Gansz will make all of the SMU special teams better, including the punt coverage team (photo by Travis Johnston).

"I learned the dropkick from my uncle, Charlie Fenwick," Morstead said. "My family is English, and we would go over to visit, and he taught me the dropkick with a rugby ball. It was pretty easy to learn with a rugby ball - it’s bigger, and has rounder ends, so it bounces more consistently. Then, after we came home, I started to practice with a junior (size) football, and those skinny and are super-pointy. If you can hit a dropkick with that, a regular football’s not that hard. It’s not as accurate as a regular field goal, because you’re dropping the ball on its point, but it’s possible.

"Doug Flutie hit the last one (while playing with the New England Patriots, while playing in a January 2006 game against the Miami Dolphins), and that was the first one since about 1940 (actually 1941). When he came to SMU to call the UAB game that Halloween, he came out to practice because someone told him I could hit a dropkick. He was telling me how far he could hit them, but I got (outkicked) him. When they showed the clip of us on ESPN, I hit one from 65 yards." (For the record, the NFL record for the longest field goal is 63 yards.)

Because of the erratic nature of a play that begins with dropping a ball on its point, Morstead knows his chances to take a dropkick will be minimal, if it happens at all. Maybe at the end of a half, when an unsuspecting opponent sees him drop back and assumes the Ponies are punting just to end the half quietly.

"Coach (Jones) said he would try to find a situation where I could try it," Morstead said. "I just want a chance."

What Morstead wants more than a chance at a dropkick is a chance to prove himself as the best punter in the nation. He openly admits to having his sights set on winning the Ray Guy Award (given annually to the nation’s premier punter). He wants SMU to be ranked No. 1 in the country in net punting average. He wants to repeat as Conference USA’s first-team all-conference punter. He wants to get invited to the NFL Combine, and he wants to play professionally (ideally for his hometown Houston Texans). He wants to earn All-America recognition.

"Yeah, I want those things," he said. "I’d like to be an All-America, because it’s nice to be recognized for the work you put in to get better. You’ve got to believe you’re the best before you can convince anyone else you’re the best - I do.

"Now it’s just a matter of convincing enough other people so get a chance to prove it at the next level."