Colorado Kicker Cameron Braaten Networked Himself Into IU Walk-On Spot
For about a month, every one of Cameron Braaten's morning free periods at ThunderRidge High School followed the same script.
He'd get in, boot up his computer and head straight for his email. The class of 2017 kicking prospect would write to any and all college coaches he could find, pleading with them to give his film a look.
Most days ended the same. No reply.
"It was frustration," Braaten said. "I get that their college coaches who busy and all, but it started to add up."
But then, breakthrough. After emailing nearly every Indiana football staff member half a dozen times, Braaten finally heard back from new IU offensive coordinator Mike DeBord. He told Braaten to email Jeff McInerney, who is going to be working with the IU special teams unit moving forward.
Braaten did. He got a response within two hours, visited Bloomington shortly after and committed to accepting a preferred walk-on offer Feb. 15. The persistence paid off.
"After all that, Coach DeBord was the one who finally made it happen," Braaten said. "I was so happy."
Braaten intends to blueshirt at Indiana, paying his own way his freshman year while learning under the guidance of senior Griffin Oakes before earning a scholarship and starting job as a sophomore.
The staff told Braaten it's a realistic goal to set for himself. It's not unlike the plan Oakes used en route to earning the starting job himself.
"They want a guy to come in when Griffin leaves and be the starter for the next three years," Braaten said. "They think I can be that guy, so that's why they're bringing me in, obviously."
Braaten finished off his deal with Indiana through email networking, but the bulk of his work was done in solitude over the last year or so.
He only first began kicking around this time last year after giving up pursuit of professional soccer. He moved to California to train with the San Jose Earthquakes when he was 15 and beginning his junior year but didn't like the boarding school and soccer life quite like he thought he would.
He was the only American student among about 100 or so from the likes of Vietnam and Pakistan. Soccer was going well, he said, but he just didn't feel like he was living the life he wanted.
"I couldn't even talk to these guys in my own classes, you know?" he said. "I can't even speak their languages."
Braaten needed a backup plan, and he wasn't sure what it would be. With about a month left in his class schedule, he decided to start kicking footballs wherever he could find fields to practice in. The move was mostly on a whim.
"The reason I really started looking at it was I knew I'd be good at it," he said. "I'm all self-taught. I spent most of the time just working by myself, but my skillset translated just a little too perfectly."
Shortly into his newfound kicking career, Braaten attended a ProKicker.com camp where he was ranked No. 15 among kicking prospects nationally and No. 1 overall in the state of colorado. That gave him reassurance that what he was doing might pay off.
During his senior season, Braaten only got the chance to take three field goals, making two of them from 35 and 45 yards. He also punted and made 29-of-32 extra point tries.
Schools were slow to enter into the picture for Braaten, but he eventually picked up interest from the likes of Indiana, San Diego and Wyoming, among others. The Hoosiers were a favorite from the beginning because Braaten's parents both grew up in the Midwest (his mom was from Anderson and his dad grew up in Minnesota), and the Kelley School of Business was an attractive academic option.
If football wouldn't have worked out, Braaten said he'd have probably wound up studying business at Kelley anyway. The fact that DeBord finally answered that email and kept his football career going made the decision to head to Bloomington all the more sweet.
It's a good thing he took that free period.
"This whole thing literally came out of nowhere," Braaten said. "I'm happy it did."