Football coaches often preach a simple doctrine: win in all three phases. Offense, defense and special teams. The first two are fairly straightforward and what comes to mind when you watch football. A Quarterback dropping back to pass, the offensive line blocking the defensive line and cornerbacks and linebackers covering receivers attempting to get open for just long enough to catch the ball.

But what about that third phase?

Special teams are crucial and often overlooked parts of a football team’s success. Special teams are the players on the field when a team is kicking a field goal, returning a kick or punting on fourth down to try and pin your opponent deep with poor field position.

And lucky for the Wildcat defense, they got a pretty good punter.

Cade Johansen is a junior computer science major who plays the crucial position. He also is coming off his best. His 2025 campaign saw him punt 30 times, averaging 44.77 yards per punt, pinning opposing teams inside the 20-yard line 12 times. This success punting the football awarded him a first team All-American nod from D3football.com, a website that covers Division III football around the country.

“I was extremely happy and truly pleased [when I found out],” Johansen said. “The very first thing I did was hop on a call with my parents to share the news. All of my teammates reached out to congratulate me and it was just an overall great feeling.”

Johansen has blossomed into one of the best punters in the country. While he was three punts short of qualifying for yards per punt rankings, he would have been second among all Division III punters in the country. It also would be in the top 40 at the Division I level, better than punters for every school that made the College Football Playoff save for Ole Miss.

“I started my punting career [during] my freshman year of high school,” Johansen said. “At first, I didn’t give it much thought, and I didn’t truly fall in love with it until my junior year, when I hit my first spiral. That moment made me realize I could really make something of this whole punting thing.”

That summer he met with Josh Bidwell, who punted for three teams in the NFL over 12 seasons, who helped him refine his craft. Johansen says that experience pushed him to want to be the best.

“I worked relentlessly throughout the rest of my high school career,” Johansen said. “When I finally graduated, the only offers I had were from Eastern Washington and Nevada. I wanted to stay close to home, so I decided not to pursue football at the time and instead focused on earning a computer science degree at the University of Oregon.”

However, just before he started at University of Oregon Johansen got a call from Linfield coach Joseph Smith, who invited him to come visit.

“I didn’t think much of it at first, but once I arrived on campus, I loved everything about it,” Johansen said. “That’s when I knew I wanted to be here and compete at the collegiate level.”

Since that fateful visit Johansen has worked diligently to be at his best physically and academically. He participates in team workouts during the spring and fall, but also spends a lot of time working on his punting fundamentals.

Johansen says he typically punts about 80 times before practice and another 30 to 40 during practice.

“Once you truly understand how punting works, it becomes one of the most satisfying skills in the world,” Johansen said. “One of my favorite things about punting is that it’s a skill very few people in the world know how to do. Probably only a couple thousand.”

Punting is a valuable asset for any football team. Legendary New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl champion, famously considered punters one of the most important players in a game, even going as far to change his gameplan based on the punter the opposing team had. Johansen hopes he can be that valuable asset for a team in the future.

“If I continue to improve, perfect my craft, and earn more recognition and accolades,” Johansen said. “I plan on competing at the next level, whether that’s overseas or here in the United States.”

Johansen credits his family and coach Smith for encouraging him to pursue punting. He hopes to take another step up in his punting ability during his senior year as a Wildcat, a hard task for one of the best punters in the nation. Not only is Johansen responsible for helping the team put opposing offenses in bad positions, but he serves as a cornerstone for the third phase of football.