When Will Ferrin lines up to attempt a field goal on Aug. 30 against Portland State, it will look like business as usual, but it will be far from ordinary. The senior has made a BYU-record 16 consecutive field goals, including a pair of 50-yarders in the Alamo Bowl and a 44-yard dagger to knock off Utah 22-21 in the final seconds.
In addition, the Davis High grad and Boise State transfer, has connected on 71 straight point-after-tries dating back to 2023. Ferrin may have a hot foot, but he remains cool in the head.
“I have always just taken the mindset of being one-for-one every time,” Ferrin told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week. “That’s about as far ahead as I think.”
Kicking is a mix of both physicality and mentality and Ferrin has coaches for both.
“I meet with our mental performance coaches regularly,” he said. “A lot of that is understanding yourself better, understanding my process, understanding what makes me tick, what makes me nervous, what makes me feel good, what makes me kick at my best and what types of things get in the way.”
Ferrin isn’t a guy who gets hyped for a kick. As the drama increased during BYU’s march down the field at Utah, he remained calm, steady and kept a smile on his face. When asked which hashmark he wanted quarterback Jake Retzlaff to place the ball prior to the kick, Ferrin told special teams coach Kelly Poppinga that it didn’t matter to him — he was going to make it anyway — and he did.
“There are people who need to hype themselves up and people who need to calm themselves down before a big moment,” Ferrin said. “I’m a guy that’s probably different from a lot of kickers. If I get too low, like, ‘Oh, this kick doesn’t matter very much,’ I’ll miss those sometimes.”
Ferrin may miss here or there, but they are few and far between. His last misfire was on Sept. 28 at Baylor when the right-footed kicker was wide-right on a 49-yard attempt. Ferrin quickly regrouped and hasn’t missed since.
Now, just weeks before spring practice begins, Ferrin is already hard at work — inside his head.
“Right now, it’s how can I take a 25- or-30-yard field goal and approach it as if it’s a 55- or 60-yard kick,” he said. “It’s the same thing whether it’s a PAT or a 60-yarder. Sometimes different things will make you think one kick is different from another, but we are training to think of all the kicks the same way, no matter the situation.”
Ferrin is far from cocky, but when it comes to refined confidence, both physically and mentally, he is full of it.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook