BOISE — Colton Boomer says he’s always been a strong math and science student, particularly when it comes to geometry.

Perhaps that is why the Boise State kicker can talk your ear off when it comes to what he refers to as the “nerdy stuff” relating to the mechanics change he’s making to his approach to kicks this spring.

“This is really nerdy stuff, but my attack angle to the ball was super soccer style before and I’m trying to narrow it up,” Boomer said. “It just gets everything going downfield and leads to a lot more consistencies.”

Boomer said he’s taking a more closed approach to kicking this offseason, approaching the ball straight up, with his body square to the target as opposed to the off-angle approach he had previously used.

“It’s just a lot more consistent,” Boomer said. “You watch all the guys in the (NFL) and they’re very straight up on the ball. It’s how they pay their bills. I’m trying to get into that mindset with my last year of eligibility.”

It’s not always been the easiest transition, Boomer admits. The Lake Mary, Florida, native started playing travel soccer at the age of 8. He initially wanted to play Division I soccer in college, but jokes that he hated running, so he fell back into being a football kicker.

The soccer-style approach is all he’s ever known, and old habits are hard to break.

“It’s definitely been a lot more of a struggle mentally, because it’s totally new to me,” he said. “But I’ve got a good team around me, coaches are supper supportive and I’ve got a Zoom meeting (Tuesday) with my (kicking) coach back home.”

It’s a move Boomer said he had been hoping to make prior to last season after transferring to Boise State from UCF, but as a late transfer was not in Boise for spring ball, so he wasn’t able to do it until fall camp. Just a few practices into the fall, Boomer tweaked his back and was never really able to get the reps in he needed to feel comfortable with the new style.

“You’re supposed to do it in January and have eight months to drill it,” Boomer said. “My back got hurt and that was the only (time to change the kicking style) for that season. I got a shot in my back and then I was money and I could go back to my old form just to get through the season.”

The injury, he admitted Tuesday, had a lasting impact on his season last year. Through seven games, he was able to get every kickoff into the end zone, but midway through the season, he started losing strength in his kicking leg.

His field goal kicking was almost the opposite, as Boomer struggled at the start of the season. In Boise State’s second game, against Eastern Washington, Boomer missed his first field goal attempt as a Bronco — a 46-yard attempt — and had an extra point attempt blocked.

Boomer was replaced by Canaan Moore as placekicker midgame, and Boise State coach Spencer Danielson announced a place-kicking competition for the Broncos’ next game against Air Force, coming off a bye week.

“It was tough, I’m 22, I got married and came out here and it was like, ‘nice job providing for your family. You got benched, good job.’ So that was definitely a real aspect from that scenario, but things shook out the way they did and I’m definitely grateful for that.”

Boomer ended up keeping the place-kicking job and ended up making 11 of his 15 field goal attempts on the season, including six of his final seven. He made 46 of 47 extra point attempts, the block against Eastern Washington being his only negative mark.

Now for the first time since his freshman season at UCF, Boomer is able to participate in the spring — injuries derailed a couple of his springs while he was with the Knights. It’s big not only to give him more time to perfect the change to his approach, but also to get him more kicks before the season starts in the fall, something he didn’t get much opportunity to do in Boise last year.

“Colton hardly kicked any field goals, we were two, three practices in when he had the injury,” Boise State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins said. “Then we were basically rolling into game week after that. That’s not ideal by any stretch. There’s a lot of things you can fix from your mental self-talk to the routine you’re going through.”