It's safe to say that Brad Mikoluff is a natural kicker.

"Apparently, according to my mom, I always wanted to kick. I don't ever remember telling her that, but apparently she said that," the kicker and punter for the Bison football team says with a chuckle.

"Growing up kicking the ball around at home, I'd always hoof it. Even if we were throwing a ball, I always had to throw it as hard as I could or kick it or whatever it was."

Mikoluff grew up in Beausejour, roughly 45 minutes northeast of Winnipeg. He got his first taste of football at age nine with the East Side Eagles community team. Another family that lived in Beausejour offered to carpool, which made things a lot easier for getting to and from practices and games.

Mikoluff got his first opportunity to kick in his second year of peewee with the Eagles. He stuck with it all the way through high school with the Kildonan East Reivers, while also playing linebacker. During the end of his community football days, he received some valuable tutelage from former Winnipeg Rifle and Manitoba Bison receiver and kicking specialist Brendon Bowman.

"That was when [Bowman] was younger, so he actually came out and helped me and another guy that were trying to kick," Mikoluff says. 

"He gave us a few pointers like not taking your eye off the ball and where to hit it. Just minor stuff that is very true to kicking. It helped out tremendously. Some of the pointers I still use."

The soft-spoken athlete had a memorable high school career, making it to the championship in grade 11 and 12 with the Reivers. After graduating in 2011, he attended the Winnipeg Rifles winter camps. Of course, they weren't doing any kicking because the camps were held at the Golf Dome at the time, so he tried out at defensive end.
 

Once spring camp came around however, Mikoluff knew where he wanted to be.  

"On the first day of spring camp, I went to my head coach at the time and asked him if I could just kick and focus on that," he says. "That's what I wanted to do, I didn't really want to focus on anything else."

Mikoluff only had one other person to beat out for the kicking/punting duties that year, which he did successfully. For the next five years, he was a stable force as the team's kicking specialist, earning CJFL All-Canadian status as a punter in both 2014 and 2015. During those two years, he averaged 35.4 yards per punt while booting the ball a total of 131 times.

"Our seasons weren't the best, but the group of guys were fantastic to be around," he says of his five-year career with the Rifles. "I was punting a lot. Nothing against the guys on the team or anything, I just punted a lot, which helped out in gaining All-Canadian status."

Mikoluff was also able to lean on the advice of a number of experienced kickers during his junior football career.

In his first year with the Rifles, legendary Bombers punter Bob Cameron provided some expertise. Then, before his last season with the team, he had the opportunity to go to Bombers camp for three-and-a-half weeks where he got some pointers from former Grey Cup-winning kickers Lirim Hajrullahu and Noel Prefontaine.

"That was huge," he says. Just little techniques here and there that they gave me made a huge difference."

Mikoluff was contacted by a handful of different teams once his time with the Rifles was done. Concordia, Saint Mary's and Regina were all among the programs interested in his services, however he chose to stay home and commit to the Bisons for the 2016 season.

"I said where do I sign? It wasn't a hard decision. I got to stay home with friends and family."

Mikoluff's understanding was that he was primarily being brought in as a punter for the team, as third-year kicker Ryan Jones was already on the roster and had had success in his first two years with Manitoba. But by week four, he had been given the kicking duties, with B.C. native Matt Riley handling punts.

Mikoluff finished the year going 14-of-17 on field goal attempts, with his longest being from 42 yards.

"That wasn't what they brought me in for, they brought me in for punting, so it was kind of a different thing," he says.

"But I kind of just ran with that for the last five games of the season. I had a few [Canada West] Special Teams Player of the Week nods, which was mind-blowing because I wasn't expecting any of that. I was just going out there and doing my job."

The following year, Mikoluff earned the kicking duties once more, going 16-of-19. His longest kick that year was from 46 yards out. At the end of the 2017 season he was honoured as the conference's all-star kicker.

"It was great. I was shocked by it and wasn't expecting it. I knew I had a good season, but I can't take all the credit for it," he says humbly. "The other guys are doing their jobs out there as well with the snap, the hold and blocking. They earned it just as much as I did."

Now in his final year of eligibility with the Bisons, Mikoluff has earned both the kicking and punting duties. His longest made field goal is from 49 yards thus far and he was also named the Special Teams Player of the Week for his Week 3 performance against Alberta. He also leads the conference with a 43.3 yard punting average.

"As long as everything keeps going the way it is, the season for me should turn out great, as well as the team," he says. "We've got everything clicking now with our first two wins. I think we're going to keep rolling and hopefully end up in the playoffs."

Catch Mikoluff and the Bisons in tomorrow's Homecoming game, 2 p.m. at Investors Group Field! Tickets available on Ticketmaster, with U of M students and fans 17-and-under in free! Pregame activities include the Gallagher Tailgate Party from 12-2 p.m., which will have a family fun area, a live band, and live hits from Virgin Radio.