FORT COLLINS — Ben DeLine grew up knowing he was born to kick for Colorado State, making his debut on the planet soon after his parents attended a CSU football game.
He didn’t know until Sunday his first collegiate kick will come in front of upwards of 70,000 people at Invesco Field, a long way out of Steamboat Springs for a raw freshman.
DeLine was named the starter for Sunday’s instate rivalry after incumbent Jason Smith broke his arm in Saturday’s practice.
“Our non-contact work has a little contact. We thudded too hard,” said CSU coach Steve Fairchild. The injury occurred on an errant snap.
Initially believed to be a bruised arm, the staff learned Sunday Smith broke his upper arm. It is not expected to be a season-ending injury for the senior.
Smith took over the starting place-kicking job midway through his freshman year as a walk-on from Arapahoe. He has been a 73 percent career field goal kicker and has made all but one of 68 extra point attempts. He was also solid for two years as the kickoff specialist. This season he was going to double up on punting duties.
DeLine is the only true freshman listed as a starter for CSU.
“If he’s half as tough and half as good as his dad, he’ll be a great kicker for us,” Fairchild said. “If this was ideal, Jason Smith would be on the field next Sunday. But it’s an injury that occurred and we’ll have to deal with it.”
Steve DeLine kicked for CSU in 1984, 1986-87. Steve and Karen DeLine watched the 35-35 tie with Eastern Michigan Sept. 23, 1989, and Ben kicked his way into the world the next morning.
“Steamboat Spring to Invesco. That’s pretty good,” said special teams coach Larry Lewis. “Ben’s a great competitor. I know he’s going to be nervous. The kids (in practice) have had great experience under fire and I thought Saturday he stepped up and kicked four field goals.”
Lewis isn’t announcing DeLine’s range.
The starting lineup was a fairly close contest with DeLine and punter Anthony Hartz,
a recent junior college addition. “We’ve done that on purpose. We tried to give all those kids as much opportunity to compete as a starter,” Lewis said. “I made sure they all had the same amount of reps”
Lewis had been impressed with the effectiveness of Smith’s punting as Jimmie Kaylor’s likely successor.
DeLine will also handle kickoffs. Every phase of the kicking game is new from punter to kicker, to deep snapper (junior college transfer Scott Albritton) to Lewis himself.
“It never crossed my mind, except for about 1 o’clock every morning” Lewis said, finding some humor in the situation.
Footnotes. The first depth chart was released with few surprises. After all the fuss over incoming wide receivers, veteran Dion Morton and Rashaun Greer will likely start. The running back will be a game-day decision between Gartrell Johnson and Kyle Bell. On the other side, defensive end Jake Pottorff moved ahead of Wade Landers but both will play. After missing much of preseason work with an ankle sprain, Nick Oppenneer is listed as the starter ahead of true freshman Gerard Thomas. Fairchild had nothing but good words for counterpart Dan Hawkins. “I have a lot of respect for Dan Hawkins and the CU program. He’s a real class guy. A proud father and a good parent,” Fairchild said. The CSU coach left no doubt he wants the CU-CSU series in Denver — every year.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
