State of the Specialists With K Matt Anderson

Redshirt senior kicker Matt Anderson is going into his final year kicking for the Bears, going into his third year as the placekicker. Over his two seasons, Anderson has gone 40-47 on field goal attempts (85.1%) and 101-103 on extra point attempts. He was on the Lou Groza Award watch list for 2016. One of the biggest accomplishments according to Anderson that he had in 2016 was being more accurate than Stanford counterpart Conrad Ukropina, hitting on 84.6% of his attempts as opposed to Ukropina's 81.5%. Anderson hit a 51 yard field goal to close Wednesday's practice and spare the team a half-gasser to end practice. Anderson did a Q&A with GoldenBearReport.com after practice.

How did the 51-yard field goal at the end of practice feel?

"It was good actually. It was fun, because we actually had a 51 yarder last week, can't remember which practice, but had a 51 yarder into a little bit of a wind in two-minute, kind of win the game situation and it went up, Dylan (Klumph) celebrated right away, but it was hanging there, it was into the wind. So it was coming down and it kinda hit the back of the crossbar, it went in though. Then today, another 51 yarder, from the other hash, the right hash and just absolutely crushed the thing. Great snap, great hold, there's no defense but blocking was still great, blocking was still great, but yeah, it felt great and it saved everybody a half gasser at the end of practice, so it was fun, working all practice so it was nice to let them rest for that half-gasser."

You're breaking in a new longsnapper with Grant Gluhaich and Garrett Frum working in, how's that process been?

"They've both been doing a great job. Obviously we lost a great longsnapper in Brad last year. He's going to be super-successful at the next level so all the luck to him. We're trying to break in two long snappers now, Garrett and Grant, switching off, taking reps with the ones at every practice, and they've both been doing a good job. Obviously some nerves working with the ones for the first time, but they worked through it and this past week has been pretty good for all them, field goal-wise. Punt-wise they've been pretty good all spring, field goal-wise we figured out where the spot is for laces being out, so that Dylan doesn't have to worry about that so I don't have to see laces. So they've gotten a lot more consistent at that moving into the end of spring ball, so I'm super happy with how they've done and I'm excited for the work they'll do in the summer and coming into fall camp."

How have you felt about your performance in the spring here?

"I'm pretty happy about it actually. It's nice because this spring we've done a lot more team field goals as far as game-like situations, so two minute drill, redzone drill, so I think I'm 7 for 7 in that. And those are the kicks that really mean the most to me because they're the most game-like scenario kicks and that's my mentality. I like to come out, hit my one field goal that I have to hit in the game, then I go back to the sideline, and I come out again and hit another one, coming out with that mindset of 'that's the kick that you have to make,' so that's been fun for me to come out here for red-zone, two minute, team, and be able to go 7 for 7 so far this spring and hopefully add to that on Saturday."

Those kicks give you the feeling of the pressure you'll face in game situations?

"Yeah certainly, it does the closest job to resembling that as you can do in a practice. Nothing really can get close to the feeling of what it's like in a game, but those team reps are the closest you can get."

What have you thought of Coach Ragle as the special teams coach?

"Lot of energy, lot of passion. Passion's his word, he's right behind me whenever we go in for field goal, he's chirping a little in my ear, trying to distract me, but I'm at the point where nothing bothers me, so it's fun to celebrate a little when it goes in and joke with him about the kicks."

With Noah Beito gone, will you be handling kickoffs this year?

"That's to be seen. I mean, I'd love to. Obviously being a competitor, I want to play in every way that I can, and so I'd love to do kickoffs, and it's something that I've been working on. We'll see how it goes."