On a warm and breezy April morning, Colton Boomer is back where he wants to be — a football field.
It’s midway through UCF’s spring camp, and Boomer is moments away from nailing another field-goal attempt, something he’s done hundreds if not thousands of times starting at Lake Mary High School.
For the first time in more than a year, Boomer is healthy, physically and mentally.
After a phenomenal freshman season in which he connected on 14 of 15 field goals (94%) and 42 of 43 extra points (97%), health issues contributed to a sophomore slump. Boomer’s accuracy dipped to 13 of 21 on field goals (62%) last season, making just 2 of his final 6.
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Boomer spent much of last spring camp and summer break in a boot as he worked to get healthy for the fall. He admits he wasn’t 100% when the season started.
“It wasn’t ideal,” said Boomer, who initially hesitated to discuss it and didn’t go into specifics of the injury. “The week before fall camp, I was still in a boot. I just taped it up and said, ‘Let’s go.’ That’s just the type of guy that I am. I won’t sit on the sideline because I’m a little hurt. I wanted to be out there helping the team.”
Boomer connected on his first seven field goals, including a winning 40-yarder against Boise State in Week 2.
Yet, he continued to struggle with his health.
“I didn’t do a good job of knowing my body,” he said. “I feel sorry for what I did to the team for being selfish and putting myself out on the field when I should have said, ‘Hey, this is not good, and I’m not at my best.’
“I was just young and dumb.”
Boomer would miss his next three attempts, including a pair of kicks (32 and 59 yards) against Baylor. This setback, though disappointing, served as a valuable learning experience.
“I definitely tried to play the tough guy,” said Boomer. “It was humbling, and I’m grateful, but I regret how it affected the team.”
Things had gotten so bad that Boomer could hardly walk during the bye week leading up to the Oklahoma game on Oct. 21. Yet he managed to connect on all three field goals (21, 48, 46) against the sixth-ranked Sooners, who held off a late rally to down the Knights, 31-29.
“Advil and Tylenol got me through it,” Boomer said of leading up to the game.
“We knew what he was going through,” said long snapper Gage King. “He did a great job of trying to go to a bunch of specialists to get treatment and rehab and tape it up.”
King, punter Mitch McCarthy and fellow kicker Grant Reddick supported their struggling teammate.
“On game day, he wanted to be out there so it was like, ‘Alright, you’ve got to go,’” added King, “especially when he had a couple of misses. We just tried to pick him up and tell him, ‘You’re good, you know how to do this and you just have to keep it rolling.’”
Said Reddick: “I remember having a one-on-one with each other before the Georgia Tech game, talking about going out there and doing what we could do.”
Eventually, the physical pain and the on-field struggles created mental stress for Boomer.
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He readily admits that the pressure he felt at times was self-induced.
Boomer sought help and consulted several coaches before meeting Gio Valiante, a renowned sports psychologist who worked with golfer Tiger Woods.
“With everything I’ve learned now, I feel like a different person,” said Boomer. “It’s cool to see all the things I’ve learned being applied in practice. Going from a result-oriented mindset to a process-oriented mindset is game-changing.”
Now healthy, Boomer believes he’s the best he’s ever been. While his football story isn’t over, his experience this past season reminded him of the song “Hold on Loosely” by the rock band .38 Special.
“Just hold on loosely, but don’t let go. If you cling too tightly, you’re gonna lose control.”
“If you hold on too tight, it’s going to evaporate in front of your eyes,” said Boomer. “Having respect for the game, I thought I could control it. But now I understand it is its own beast. I’m going to try and tame it as much as I can, but I can’t do everything.”
Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com