FORT COLLINS –– Following a rough outing for Cayden Camper against Vanderbilt on Sept. 11, members of the Colorado State football team greeted their kicker in hostile fashion during the squad's next practice.

While attempting his routine boots on the preparational turf outside of Canvas Stadium, players and coaches charged right up to Camper's grill and screamed in the specialist's face. Some even whacked the junior with pads as Camper attempted to focus on his daily business of splitting the uprights.

One could assume the aforementioned response represented a punishment for Camper botching a pair of chip-shot field goals as the Commodores stormed back to upend the Rams over the prior weekend.

However, not in the slightest.

"What we did is create chaos for him at practice to get him used to that kind of atmosphere," coach Steve Addazio said. "To watch his growth has just been phenomenal. Cayden's done a great job responding."

As Addazio alluded to, CSU hoped to improve Camper's ability to lock in mentally and block out gameday distractions by wreaking havoc behind the scenes.

Well, since altering the kicker's practice routine, one could certainly say the Pueblo native has grown accustomed to chaos amid a drastic turnaround for the green and gold's battle-tested specialist.

Promptly bouncing back from CSU's Week 2 defeat, Camper displayed notable efficacy seven days later at Toledo upon nailing 5-of-5 attempts –– during which he converted a trio of fourth-quarter tries to seal a 22-6 victory.

Proving the Toledo outing constituted no sort of fluke, he then notched a single-game program record last Saturday via converting 6-of-6 field goals versus San Jose State –– headlined by pushing a career-long 53-yarder down the middle.

"It's actually helped quite a bit," Camper said. "At first, I was like I don't know, it's kind of weird. They're hitting me with pads and stuff like that. And I missed the first kick after we started doing that. But then I was like, OK, I can find a way deal with this. So the next time, I just focused on my kick. Overall, it made me better. The stadium and the crowd really don't mean anything anymore."

Since starting the season 1-for-4 in the field goal domain, Camper has split the posts on 11 consecutive three-point tries while winning a pair of Mountain West special teams player of the week awards. Despite the shaky start to 2021, Camper now doesn't appear to boast any issues handling the moment.

Regardless of crowd noise or a particular contest's circumstance, the upperclassman has found success in treating every kick the same –– and possessing the mental fortitude to disallow his mind from tricking him into thinking otherwise.

Simply put, a consistent approach has amounted to the surging kicker's newfound dependability.

"Focusing on my fundamentals and routine has really helped me," Camper said. "Throughout practice, I have the same routine of staying warm as I do in the game. All week everything is the same. I'm practicing the same exact thing over and over again. So then it's just about repeating it in the game. And I've just been able to take it one kick at a time out there and not get too nervous. I think it's a maturity thing for me."

Speaking of maturity, Camper's evident growth doesn't solely pertain to learning how to handle the pressure-filled roller coaster that is the on-field life of a collegiate kicker.

Camper's journey to his present state of prosperity began away from football, where the Colorado product hit what he views as rock-bottom during an unforgiving winter.

On Feb. 23, 2020, the Larimer County Police Department pulled over and arrested Camper for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs near CSU's campus. Camper was then removed from the team's roster upon eventually receiving unclassified misdemeanor charges –– sentencing him to 10 days in jail and 48 hours of community service.

Though he could have found a way to continue kicking while away from the squad for months, Camper utilized his absence by focusing on improving himself as a person. In other words, despite hoping to return to the Rams when possible, football wasn't the priority.

"Really, I was just trying to better myself off the field, especially with my grades and staying away from partying," Camper said. "That time off was good for me. I moved back home with my parents. It helped me get back to a normal life. Coach Addazio said I was going to have to carve a path back here. I had to get better, and I did."

Of course, Camper indeed carved a route back to the roster upon rejoining the Rams during the abbreviated 2020 season. And since returning, fellow Rams have undoubtedly noticed his growth.

Sometimes an individual requires a wake-up call to straighten themselves out.

Camper woke up.

"Once something like that is stripped away from you, it's a big wake-up call," Camper said. "It's a big slap in the face, and I needed it."

"He grew up," tight end Trey McBride added. "When something like that happens, it's hard to bounce back. But he's someone that bounced back, battled, and has done a really good job for us. He's been through a lot off the field. But he's a warrior."

Though thrilled to obtain a second chance, it wasn't as if Camper immediately assumed his prior duties when reuniting with CSU's roster.

In light of underclassman specialist Robert Liss' emergence –– who operated as the Rams' starting kicker in all four games last season as Camper only appeared in one contest –– the situation forced him to grind his way back toward the top of CSU's depth chart.

And that's precisely what he did as Camper, who converted 7-of-13 field goals in 2019, endured a neck-and-neck competition with Liss for the primary kicking occupation throughout 2021's fall training camp.

Toward the preseason's conclusion, Camper emerged as the battle's frontrunner, while Liss subsequently entered the transfer portal on Aug. 19. Grateful to re-establish himself as the Rams' first-string kicker, the junior surely hasn't let his second opportunity waste away.

"Robert ended up kicking that year, and that was a tough thing to see because it was mine and I lost it," Camper said. "It was right in front of me, but I lost it. But it's never too late to change. I learned that away from football too. So I just came back and kept doing my job."