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The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Punter Tom Hackett Fakes It ’til He Makes It

A botched high snap should have spelled trouble for the Utes, but the opposite happened. Instead, punter Tom Hackett reached up to haul in the ball, faked the punt and ran on a fourth down with 13 yards to go for the first.

This shaky play was reminiscent of how Hackett started his 2015 campaign. Earlier this season, Hackett wasn’t punting the way a defending Ray Guy Award winner would, and he was disappointed in himself.

He also felt he’d lost the respect of his head coach.

“I didn’t punt as well as I would have liked to, and Coach [Whittingham] knew that,” Hackett said. “It was important to regain the trust of him.”

While head coach Kyle Whittingham always believed in Hackett, the Australian punter still did his best to earn back any lost faith.

Hackett made a promise to Whittingham. He promised he would return to his old self. He even locked himself in his room for a couple of days because of how frustrated he was, but he did not allow himself to get too carried away. Getting back on track, he met with a sports psychologist to figure out what was distracting him.

hackett

“First year, there were expectations on me to perform,” Hackett said. “I don’t know if mentally that messed me up a bit, but I went and met with a few people, and they sorted me out.”

And there was no better game to get things going, especially considering last year’s performance against the Ducks. Against Oregon last season, Hackett felt like he got torched on a couple of punts. He even had to try and make a tackle on Byron Marshall, which would be hard for any player, let alone a punter, to do.

This time, however, the roles were reversed. Hackett even saw it coming a few days in advance.

“I had a dream at the start of the week that instead of me tackling him, he tackled me,” Hackett said. “I don’t know if that’s some weird voodoo stuff, or what, but I guess it kind of happened.”

Hackett wasn’t even his best self minutes before the game. He came down with a cold, but it was a welcome distraction. Because of this, he was not so focused on who was waiting to return the ball —rather, he focused on his game and tuned everything else out. He only punted the ball three times, but all three punts landed within the Oregon 10-yard line, including a career-long punt of 76 yards.

One punt did go awry, though. Before the fake punt that saw him run for a first down, Hackett attempted the original punt, but the ball hit the camera wire.

Luckily, another attempt was given.

Hackett did not initially realize the snap was as high as it was because of how focused he was, but in the end it didn’t even matter because he gained 33 yards on the play. However, Whittingham recognizes the athleticism Hackett is downplaying.

“[The] thing that was impressive was the way he fielded that snap because the snap was high,” Whittingham said. “To be able to go up and tip it back down to himself was a very impressive, athletic move.”

But underneath his cool composure, Hackett was a nervous wreck. He had no clue how he was going to get that first down, considering the fact he says he is not a runner.

“Coach says, ‘Run the fake,’ and I look up and see fourth-and-13 and just say, ‘Crikey,’” Hackett said. “I’m 13 yards back, got about 30 yards just to get the first. Just tell the boys to keep blocking for me.”

His teammates’ blocking certainly helped. Since this was the Utes’ first fake punt on the season, he did his best to make it count. Hackett had to react fast, and although he was on his heels for a moment, he found his footing soon enough.

“I look back on the run, and the gap closed right after I popped through,” Hackett said. “A second or two more and I might have been dead.”

Wide receiver and team captain Kenneth Scott liked Hackett’s moves and really enjoyed seeing the Australian making a little wiggle to escape a tackle. He thought it was great to see him run out there.

“I didn’t even know it was coming,” Scott said. “I was surprised … it was really cool to see.”

The former Aussie football player was just happy to take a tackle.

“When I got hit after that, I told someone it felt good to cop a knock,” Hackett said. “Not that it was anything crazy, but just to go to the ground with two arms around with me with the football was a good feeling.”

Although he did not achieve his goal of scoring a touchdown, he still managed to get his teammates riled up. After the play, he needed pain medication — not because of the tackle, but because all his teammates were slapping him on his helmet.

“I had to take Ibuprofen after because I got smacked in the helmet so many times by my bloody teammates, and [I’m] not used to that,” Hackett said.

And because of Hackett’s efforts, he was awarded Pac-12 Specialist of the Week and the Ray Guy Award Player of the Week.

“I guess all it means is that I had a good game and no one was able to do something special in the return game,” Hackett said.

[email protected]

@kbrenneisen

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