There were at least two guys brought in that fall camp. If you want to dig through all the old practice reports, be my guest.
It was fall camp. NCAA regs only let preferred walk ons into fall camp. Just how many preferred walk on spots do you think should be devoted to kickers?
Phillips wisely didn’t want to wait to be a walk on and was given preferred status at Utah (who was obviously in an even worse spot as they were willing to give a preferred walk on spot to a skier who hadn’t kicked in years).
Bronco made several roster mistakes through the years. Failing to have a crystal ball to know that a skier would turn into an all American was simply an unlucky break.