FARGO - One of the more overlooked players of North Dakota State's national championship football team last season was kicker Adam Keller.
In fact, he set himself apart with one of the best seasons by a kicker in Bison history. But there's also something else that sets him apart from nearly every other kicker in the nation.
Junior Adam Keller looks like your average kicker until he takes his cleats off.
"A lot of people growing up giving me crap about having four toes and being a kicker," Keller said. "That's why you're so good and what if you had five toes would you be so good? Those are the questions I've dealt with from my childhood till now."
He also had to deal with questions from his teammates when he arrived on campus three years ago.
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"I didn't really notice at first. Then we're sitting around one day, he's 17 and I'm 19 and looked down at his foot and said, 'Whoa, there's four toes.'" said sophomore punter Ben LeCompte.
"Wow, a kicker with four toes," said senior long snapper Michael Murphy. "You don't see normal people with four toes. It's his cliché."
Keller was born with four toes on his right foot, and when you watch him kick, you'd have no idea. But there's one giveaway.
"My left foot is actually a foot and half bigger than my right foot," Keller said. "I wear a 10 1/2 foot shoe on my right foot and a 11 1/2 on my plant foot, so people will notice I'm wearing two different shoes on but that's just because I need two different shoes to fit my feet."
Keller rose to the challenge last season in his first year starting. He connected on 75 percent of his kicks, setting schools records for field goals made and points scored.
"I put a lot of hard work and time into the offseason and that's what made it pay off in the end, the will to want to get better and be great for the Bison," Keller said. "My parents always said that's what makes you special and that's who makes you who you are and that's what they're supposed to say. Just embraced it and take it for what it is. Hey, I have four toes, I'm a little bit different, but I just go with it."
