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Nerves. Worry. Panic.
Those were all things Tom Hackett didn't have time to feel as he leapt for a high snap on Saturday, showcasing a rarely seen vertical leap and corralling an even rarer off-target snap by his good friend Chase Dominguez. The bad snap couldn't have come at a worse time: against No. 13 Oregon, at a hostile stadium, as Hackett was about to fake for the first time this season.
"I've never seen Chase do that before," Hackett said. "He just happened to do it on the one play I'm running."
With his typical Aussie cool-headedness, Utah's senior punter started sprinting upfield to catch up with his blockers. He popped through a small seam that closed behind him — "a second or two more, I might have been dead."
He added: "I cut too much slack going out of bounds against Colorado [last year]. So I thought this time, I'd take this returner on and get six on the board. I failed."
But Hackett did get a 33-yard run that gave Utah a fourth down conversion. And that highlight — of Hackett pulling down a one-handed grab and dashing downfield — in addition to a top-notch punting performance gave him Pac-12 special teams player of the week honors.
He was one of two Utes this week to get a weekly nod, alongside quarterback Travis Wilson. Hackett, who never turns away a chance to drop a memorable, typically self-deprecating quote, said all the award means is that no returner had a special play. When reminded of his teammate Boobie Hobbs' touchdown return, Hackett doubled down: "Boobie was all by his bloody self. I could have done that."
If it were up to the defending Ray Guy Award winner, he would punt "10 times out of 10." But the decision to call the fake ultimately fell to the coaches based on information from guard Hiva Lutui. It's Lutui's job to check out the special teams formation and see if a run could work.
When Hackett had perhaps the rarest of all occurrences when his first punt attempt hit the SkyCam wire, it gave the coaches a chance to ask Lutui if Hackett could run a fake. Lutui said he could.
"That was just the discussion him and Hiva had, and I happened to be in the circle," Hackett said. "I heard it, crapped my pants a bit and went out and ran."
In a strange twist, Hackett ended up getting tracked down by Bralon Addison, the returner who trucked him in a 2013 game against Oregon. Hackett said he had a vision early in the week that Addison would tackle him in the game: "So I don't know if that's some voodoo stuff or what, but I guess it kind of happened."
Hackett joked on the snap catch that he is trying to unseat kicker Andy Phillips on the hands team and end a long-standing argument. He added that he enjoyed taking a hit for the team, one of the few times that's happened in four years for the guy who has said his job is "kicking bacon" down the field.
Whether that makes him a true football player, he isn't sure.
"Some people might consider me a punter, some people might consider me a football player, some people might consider me fat. Maybe I'm all three. Who knows?"
Repp's splashy debut
With only two catches, he already had his first two career touchdowns. And even Utah fans were still scratching their heads: Who is Caleb Repp?
He's a 6-foot-5, 210-pound freshman tight end-receiver hybrid with reported 4.5 speed whom coach Kyle Whittingham has been threatening to use for most of fall camp. Finally on Saturday, the Utes followed through.
"We expect him to be a bigger factor moving forward," Whitttingham said. "Right now, two catches for two touchdowns. We probably should have thrown to him 10 times."
Hailing from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Repp was originally envisioned as a receiver-turned-defensive end but when he didn't gain weight in the summer, the Utes decided they might need him on offense instead.
In Kenneth Scott's mind, there was never a question where Repp fit best.
"Knowing him, he has a basketball background just like me," Scott said. "I've seen the way he moves and stuff like that. So I'm thinking, 'Man you could really be something.' He's got great body control, and he has great hands. On defense, you don't really need great hands on the line."
Repp showcased how he can beat defenses in two different ways on his catches. On the first, a 9-yard fade, he beat a defensive back for a contested ball and managed to twist a foot in bounds. On the second, he burned defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, who was standing back in coverage.
The biggest advantage with Repp — and the biggest reason to think he'll factor more into Utah's offense — is the matchup problems he creates.
"People are probably gonna view him as a tight end, because that's what he's listed as," Scott said. "So they're probably going to try to put a linebacker on him. He's faster than a linebacker. He can jump higher than safeties and run past safeties. If it's a corner, he's too tall for corners. "
Briefly
Wilson said his injured left shoulder isn't "100 percent" but is mostly functional, bothering him only when he takes hits. He hopes the bye week will help him fully recover. … Whittingham acknowledged talking with his former boss, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, last week, which isn't unusual. But he wouldn't confirm whether Meyer, who beat the Ducks in last year's national championship game, offered any advice except to say Meyer is "a great resource."