Next up for new Utes kicker Matt Gay: a trip home to Utah County and a rivalry game

The sound caught the attention of Greg Maas.

There was one of the many local youth soccer talents he’d seen bloom, blasting a right-footed shot that thumped the back of the net. Around the time Matt Gay got behind the wheel of a car, Maas heard — and saw — just how hard the goal-scorer from Orem could connect and place a strike. The two had known one another from the time Gay was about 10, but over the years, his prowess for tattooing a ball grew.

So Maas subtly joked one day.

“You know what, you may be a soccer player now,” Maas said, “but your future’s going to be kicking in the NFL.”

In hindsight, Maas says he still stands by what he said so many years ago. Last Thursday night, the Utah Valley University men’s soccer coach couldn’t help but let out a scream when Gay trotted out on the field, in his red No. 97 jersey and neon yellow kicking cleats, and put a point-after-attempt emphatically through on the north side of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“He’s got a striker’s mentality,” Maas said. “That showed in the moments where there’s a lot of pressure. His focus was to put the ball in the back of the net, and now, that focus has changed in putting the ball through the uprights.”

Gay’s path to becoming Utah’s No. 1 place-kicker is unique by most college football standards, but not to Utah. After seeing its most-decorated kicker — a one-time alpine skier — in program history graduate, it now seems to have tapped into the well of obscure finds again.

“The guy just came out of nowhere,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Switching things up

The thunderous right foot helped build what UVU has constructed. As a freshman in 2014, Gay led the Wolverines, now a nationally-ranked program, with seven goals and was an all-conference selection. Gay left on an LDS Church mission in 2015, returned in 2016 and, as Maas explains, struggled to regain the fitness level he had in his breakout year in 2014.

A former Real Salt Lake academy product, Gay was at a crossroads. He met with Maas and the UVU coaching staff and eventually decided to give kicking a real go. He’d only kicked one year in high school, his senior year at Orem. But Gay put himself through various kicking camps last year and impressed Utah twice. So much so, he eventually was invited to walk on.

The 23-year-old former forward found himself moving up the ladder in the kicking competition against freshman Chayden Johnston this fall. After Johnston missed his first field-goal attempt in the first quarter against North Dakota, Gay’s turn was up.

The nerves didn’t start creeping on any of his three field-goal makes in his debut. No, it was the first PAT he took, the straightaway shot that put into perspective his circuitous route to becoming — for the time being — Utah’s No. 1 kicker. At UVU, he’d shrugged off defenders and rifled shots into the back of the net, so a couple deep breaths and a simple swing of the right leg wasn’t much to worry about.

“Pressure’s pressure, and how you handle it through your own mental state,” Gay said. “Being there before really, really helps and it helps you prepare for moments like that.”

Gay went 3 for 3 on PATs and 3 for 3 on field-goal attempts, including a 49-yard attempt in the fourth quarter of Utah’s season-opening win. Back in Orem, his former UVU teammates were posting and reposting highlights of his first game back in a helmet and pads.

“This entire team is behind him like you could never imagine,” Maas said.

The Friday after his debut, he was on the sidelines at Clyde Field in Orem rooting on his former teammates in a non-conference match. Maas said his former player has become “a little bit of a cult hero within the group.” But Gay is headed back to Utah County in a few days, where this time, the environment won’t be as welcoming.

Rivalry ties

The youngest of eight children, Gay has those who choose blue in the family. His grandfather is among the BYU faithful, and in fact, his older brother just recently graduated from BYU. As is the case with many families in this historic rivalry, his rise in red has some jonesing for some new gear.

“They’re making their way to the Utah fan base now that I’m playing here,” Gay said, smiling.

While he passed his first test, the second promises to be a doozy. Gay knows it, too. He’s attended Utah-BYU games at LaVell Edwards Stadium before. He knows the fate of Utah’s six-game rivalry win streak could rest on his rocket right foot. “It’s hostile,” he said.

“It’s going to be intense,” Gay added, “but I’m just going to calm my nerves and just do what I’m here to do.”

Whittingham said the walk-on is “very cool under pressure” and that the moment of being suddenly called upon in the opener did not faze Gay one bit. Nothing is set in stone, Whittingham added. Gay is the No. 1 kicker right now, but the staff has faith in Johnston. A week into fall camp, Utah’s head coach noted how it’d “be quite the story” if Gay ended up picking up where record-holder Andy Phillips left off.

“They’re both similar blokes,” said punter and holder Mitch Wishnowsky. ”I think it’s a cool story for a walk-on to just come in and sort of get thrown in there, but do well.”

Ahead of this heated in-state rivalry, Gay is ready for more sink-or-swim moments. Odds are, he’ll be called upon — and more than once.

“I’ve coached a lot of soccer players in my lifetime,” Maas said, “and none have had the power that he has in his leg.”