Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia
Late Bloomer Cade Graham Delivers as Chippewa Placekicker
9/1/2025 7:30:00 AM | Football, Our Stories
Graham converts 3-4 field goals, including the game-winner as Central Michigan defeats San Jose State 16-14 in season opener.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Unheralded? How about unheard-of?
Cade Graham is a hero today after kicking three field goals, including the go-ahead boot with just over minutes to play, in Central Michigan's dramatic 16-14 season-opening victory on Friday at San Jose State.
It's not unusual for the placekicker to shine in the spotlight. Games often come down to a field goal, made or missed.
But for Graham, it was unlikely that that chance to become a hero would ever present itself when he enrolled at Central Michigan after graduating from Caledonia High School in 2021.
He never played high school football and did not take a stab at CMU football until the summer of 2023 as he headed into his junior year of college. It was then that he attended a high school kicking camp hosted by CMU at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
And the rest, well, it's like the nerdy, virtually unknown kid who steps out of the stands at the school assembly, grabs the mic, and raps like Kendrick Lamar.
It all started when Graham was in his senior year, 2020-21, at Caledonia. He was on the soccer and wrestling teams and to break up the boredom wrought by the COVID pandemic, he would head over to the Caledonia High School football field.
"I was just trying to figure out something to pass the time because we were bored sitting around the house," Graham said on Friday after kicking three field goals, including the go-ahead boot – a 28-yarder – with just over four minutes to play. "The football field was always open, so I always thought, let's just go kick the football. I had a soccer background and kicking is something that I'd always found fun.
"So I started kicking the ball pretty far and I had peers saying, 'Maybe you should go try out.' It took me three years to do it."
And so there he was, in 2023, at Kelly/Shorts with CMU special teams coach Keith Murphy looking on during a one-day camp that drew several high school kickers.
"I paid the 60 bucks to go do it and I wasn't going to let another year go by without taking an opportunity," Graham said. "I had something to prove.
"I was pretty good up until the longer kicks, but that's normal for that type of camp. Coach Murph said, 'You've got one last kick to impress' and I moved it back to 60 yards and drained it. That was kind of my statement, like 'You need to take me on.'"
The roster was full for the '23 season, but Murphy agreed to bring Graham on for spring ball in 2024. He made the team and then handled kickoff duties for four games in '24, averaging a respectable 61-plus yards per.
He backed up Tristan Mattson as the Chippewas' field goal and extra point kicker, but he never got a change to kick in a game.
Until Friday.
Graham missed his first attempt from 51 yards, but was dead, solid perfect on his next three, a pair of 28-yarders and another from 32.
Graham's athletic background on the soccer pitch and the wrestling mat has certainly helped, he said.
"Soccer from a technique standpoint helped me to be successful in this area and the wrestling (helped with) the toughness and the kind of mentality that you need to go out on the field," said Graham, who wrestled at 135 pounds as a high school senior and is now a hefty 170 on his 5-foot-8 frame. "(Wrestling has) really helped me to get locked in, whether it's just me and the kick or me and the opponent. There's a lot of correlation with that from wrestling."
There's also a lot of team work when it comes to field goals and extra points. Long snapper Ben Pratt and holder Declan Duley, a transfer from Illinois who is the Chippewas' No. 1 punter, put in long hours in developing all-important timing and chemistry.
"That comes with just getting operations in over the summer and through fall camp," said Graham, who will begin his career as an elementary school physical education teacher in January after earning a bachelor of science degree with a major in physical education in May. "We try our best to get outside and build connections so when it comes times of high stress we know how to handle it and we know how to calm each other down and get a clean operation."
There were jitters, Graham said, on his first field goal try, a big-time challenge from 51 yards out that fell short.
But that play, make or miss, helped him overcome whatever nerves he may have felt. By the time he hit the go-ahead boot in the fourth quarter, it was smooth sailing.
Cade Graham is a hero today after kicking three field goals, including the go-ahead boot with just over minutes to play, in Central Michigan's dramatic 16-14 season-opening victory on Friday at San Jose State.
It's not unusual for the placekicker to shine in the spotlight. Games often come down to a field goal, made or missed.
But for Graham, it was unlikely that that chance to become a hero would ever present itself when he enrolled at Central Michigan after graduating from Caledonia High School in 2021.
He never played high school football and did not take a stab at CMU football until the summer of 2023 as he headed into his junior year of college. It was then that he attended a high school kicking camp hosted by CMU at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
And the rest, well, it's like the nerdy, virtually unknown kid who steps out of the stands at the school assembly, grabs the mic, and raps like Kendrick Lamar.
It all started when Graham was in his senior year, 2020-21, at Caledonia. He was on the soccer and wrestling teams and to break up the boredom wrought by the COVID pandemic, he would head over to the Caledonia High School football field.
"I was just trying to figure out something to pass the time because we were bored sitting around the house," Graham said on Friday after kicking three field goals, including the go-ahead boot – a 28-yarder – with just over four minutes to play. "The football field was always open, so I always thought, let's just go kick the football. I had a soccer background and kicking is something that I'd always found fun.
"So I started kicking the ball pretty far and I had peers saying, 'Maybe you should go try out.' It took me three years to do it."
And so there he was, in 2023, at Kelly/Shorts with CMU special teams coach Keith Murphy looking on during a one-day camp that drew several high school kickers.
"I paid the 60 bucks to go do it and I wasn't going to let another year go by without taking an opportunity," Graham said. "I had something to prove.
"I was pretty good up until the longer kicks, but that's normal for that type of camp. Coach Murph said, 'You've got one last kick to impress' and I moved it back to 60 yards and drained it. That was kind of my statement, like 'You need to take me on.'"
The roster was full for the '23 season, but Murphy agreed to bring Graham on for spring ball in 2024. He made the team and then handled kickoff duties for four games in '24, averaging a respectable 61-plus yards per.
He backed up Tristan Mattson as the Chippewas' field goal and extra point kicker, but he never got a change to kick in a game.
Until Friday.
Graham missed his first attempt from 51 yards, but was dead, solid perfect on his next three, a pair of 28-yarders and another from 32.
Graham's athletic background on the soccer pitch and the wrestling mat has certainly helped, he said.
"Soccer from a technique standpoint helped me to be successful in this area and the wrestling (helped with) the toughness and the kind of mentality that you need to go out on the field," said Graham, who wrestled at 135 pounds as a high school senior and is now a hefty 170 on his 5-foot-8 frame. "(Wrestling has) really helped me to get locked in, whether it's just me and the kick or me and the opponent. There's a lot of correlation with that from wrestling."
There's also a lot of team work when it comes to field goals and extra points. Long snapper Ben Pratt and holder Declan Duley, a transfer from Illinois who is the Chippewas' No. 1 punter, put in long hours in developing all-important timing and chemistry.
"That comes with just getting operations in over the summer and through fall camp," said Graham, who will begin his career as an elementary school physical education teacher in January after earning a bachelor of science degree with a major in physical education in May. "We try our best to get outside and build connections so when it comes times of high stress we know how to handle it and we know how to calm each other down and get a clean operation."
There were jitters, Graham said, on his first field goal try, a big-time challenge from 51 yards out that fell short.
But that play, make or miss, helped him overcome whatever nerves he may have felt. By the time he hit the go-ahead boot in the fourth quarter, it was smooth sailing.
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