BYU Football: Who will be the unsung heros in 2019?

The Backup Kicker

After the open practice for BYU Football it appeared that Jake Oldroyd was the better kicker showing more accuracy and distance, however kickers are a lot like shooting guards in basketball, sometimes you can’t miss and sometimes you can’t buy a basket. Although there is a real chance that Oldroyd is the better of the two kickers, we can’t take one day of practice to draw a conclusion.

The bottom line is, for the first time in… about forever, BYU Football has two players who have hit game winning field goals AND can hit from beyond 40 yards consistently. Having two guys will force there to be an a constant battle to be the guy in charge.

Why is this a good thing? Let’s look back at Tanner Mangum coming into the 2017 season. Mangum very clearly put on some weight and was not as sharp that season, and personally and I would say most would agree, it was because it was his job and nobody was really challenging him for that. He didn’t work as hard not because he didn’t care, but because there was nobody to give him that extra push.

A kicker can be the same way. If a kicker isn’t be pushed to be better than they already are, the quality of practice naturally will not be as good as having someone who is one or two bad kicks away from taking your spot. Because of this, I expect both kickers to be able to hit 50+ yard kicks this season.