By Dallas Oler
At 6-foot-4 inches, 240 pounds, Matt Payne is not your typical kicker. But the red-shirt freshman from North Ogden can do a lot more than just kick a football.
A graduate of Weber High School, Payne grew up excelling at virtually every sport he tried. “It seemed like Matt was always bigger and faster than everybody else growing up,” said Chad Evans, a longtime childhood friend. “You always wanted Matt on your team.”
In high school, Payne won the Gold Watch, an award honoring the best all-around athlete. Among other factors, the award takes into account grade point average and number of times the athlete letters.
Despite his athletic prowess, Payne never played in a football game until his ninth grade year. After a painful injury in which his cartilage was separated from his ribs and sternum, Payne decided to stick to basketball and soccer.
“I pretty much made a promise to myself that I wasn”t going to play football again,” Payne said.
Payne, a three-year letterman in basketball and soccer, was out kicking the soccer ball when football coach Kory Bosgieter noticed his leg strength.
“Bosgieter saw me kicking the soccer ball one day in tenth grade and asked me to try kicking the football,” Payne said. “It came natural to me, like kicking a soccer ball.”
Payne, who earned the nickname “Big Daddy” in high school, decided to give football a try during his junior year. He went on to letter his last two years in high school, earning all-region, all-area, and all-state selections as a senior. He kicked two 55-yard field goals his senior year.
Payne gives Bosgieter, who punted for Weber State, a great deal of credit for developing his kicking game.
“He was a good coach,” Payne said. “He knew what he was talking about and the things he taught me really helped me out.”
When asked when he first thought of becoming a kicker, Payne said it was in tenth grade. “I was flipping through the channels and saw these Division III schools playing,” Payne said. “The kickers weren”t that great. I thought, ”I can do that.””
But even then Payne didn”t seriously consider kicking at the college level. “I didn”t really think I could kick for Division I until once I really started kicking,” Payne said.
Payne was recruited by Cal, Washington State and by the rest of Utah”s in-state schools.
Payne came down to BYU on a recruiting trip and LaVell Edwards offered him a scholarship. It wasn”t a tough decision for Payne, who grew up a Cougar fan.
“I”d always wanted to come to BYU,” Payne said.
Payne then served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Oregon before red-shirting last season. He will assume the starting place-kicking duties this fall, despite being untested at the collegiate level.
“We”ve got a lot of confidence in Matt,” said BYU kickers coach Paul Tidwell. “He”s going to do an outstanding job here for BYU, not only this year, but for the next four years.”
Payne is majoring in exercise science and would like to someday become a chiropractor. As far as his football career is concerned, Payne says he will keep his options open.
“If the opportunity presents itself, I would like to play pro football,” Payne said.
