Marketing mantra? Or an analysis of Thomas Morstead? (photo by MrMustang1965).

Sporting his new 'do, Morstead met Tuesday with a scout from the Miami Dolphins (photo by Webmaster).

It’s not just a marketing mantra to describe the Mustangs’ new offense. The phrase also could be used to aptly describe senior SMU punter Thomas Morstead.

Morstead is a lot of things: he is the best punter in Conference USA, and on the short list of the elite at his craft in the entire nation. His average of 44.6 yards per punt in 2007 led Conference USA and ranked him No. 9 in the nation. Thanks to SMU’s coverage units, the Mustangs ranked No. 2 in the nation in net punting. Morstead was named All-Conference USA at the end of the 2007 season, and was on virtually every preseason all-conference list for the upcoming 2008 season.

He also is among the most fanatic Mustangs when it comes to strength and conditioning — a rare claim among punters and kickers, who often are accused of lifting weights about as often as sports writers. The 6-foot-5 Morstead has been known to strap himself into a lead vest and sprint up and down the hill at the south end of the field in Ford Stadium in July — voluntarily — and fully expects an invitation to next year’s NFL Combine, where he likely will do more bench press repetitions with the standard 225 pounds than many linebackers, and even some linemen (he already has done more than 20 reps).

So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Morstead spent part of his summer letting the rest of the nation know what PonyFans have known for years: the he clearly is among the premier punters in college football. He has spent several years working at the prestigious Kohl’s Kicking Camps, teaching his technique to high school punters (and kickers — Morstead also is the Ponies’ starting placekicker). This summer, he also was invited to take part in the Kohl’s Elite Camp for college kickers and punters in Whitewater, Wisc.

“They had about 10 of us who will be college seniors, and about 20 overall,” Morstead said. “It’s a very exclusive group. They had guys like Chris Miller, at Ball State — he’s been an All-America punter a couple of times, and I wanted to compete against guys like him.”

Morstead is a good kicker — he hit 13-of-20 field goals last season, including three from 50 or more yards — but he said it’s punting that will afford him the best chance of reaching his dream: the NFL. So Morstead worked with the other punters for a couple of days before a camp-ending competition. Each punter was given two sets of 10 footballs, and each punt was graded: each yard of distance was worth a point, as was each tenth of a second of hangtime (so a 40-yard punt with a hangtime of 4.0 seconds would be graded as an 80). Each punter got the ball 15 yards behind the line from which the distances would be measured.

Morstead averaged 57 yards on each of 20 punts, and had an average hangtime of 4.6 seconds. His average of 103 points was 13 points better than any other punter in the field. He had a long of 65 yards, which when added to the 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage (and minus the three yards for his pre-punt steps) means he hit the ball … about 80 yards on the fly.

Morstead understandably was thrilled with the outcome, but after heading to Whitewater with the intent of doing nothing but punting, he decided he wasn’t done.

Morstead ranked ninth in the nation in punting in 2007, and has his sights set even higher in 2008 (photo by Travis Johnston).

He made his way to the kickoff competition, and joined in. He found himself facing the likes of West Virginia’s Pat McAfee and Kentucky’s Tim Masthay, widely perceived as two of the best kickoff specialists in the nation.

Morstead and the rest of the kickers kicked off five times each. Morstead averaged 75 yards per kick with a hangtime of 4.1 seconds (a hangtime of 4.0 is considered legitimate for NFL prospects) to defeat the entire field.

The senior from Pearland didn’t kick off for the Ponies last year — that duty belonged to Kellis Cunningham, who will be a junior this season — but said the previous coaching staff’s idea that giving him all three kicking chores would wear him out is unlikely. He has lost weight this summer, as he does every year, from a high of 237 to his current weight of 220. The reduced bulk has alleviated the tendonitis he has endured in his left knee, allowing him to kick more balls.

Morstead doesn’t know if he’ll be able to wrestle the kickoff job away from Cunningham, but said he’d like the challenge of doing all three, if given the chance.

“I’m never going to endanger my punting or field-goal kicking if doing all three isn’t in the best interest of the team,” he said, “but I’m definitely going after it.”

Future employers are taking notice: the Miami Dolphins had a scout at Tuesday’s practice to visit with Morstead, and they will not be the last to send someone to view his bombs at Ford Stadium.

“That (the NFL) is where I want to be,” Morstead said. “Winning these competitions at the camp are a pretty big deal, but I have to do it in the games again to get that chance.”