This is exactly why you need to be prepared if you enter one of those halftime contests that teams hold at games:
Having already gone through two kickers – who have combined to miss six PATs and half of their field-goal attempts – the sixth-ranked Red Raiders are now seriously considering giving Matt Williams a shot against No. 18 Kansas this weekend.
Williams is a Tarleton State transfer student who won a month of free rent at the Tech/UMass game several weeks ago by kicking a 30-yard field goal. After his successful try, Williams was walking back to his seat when he was flagged down.
“They relayed a message to me saying that Coach [Mike] Leach wanted to talk to me,” Williams told RedRaiderSports.com the next day. “He told me to come into his office on Tuesday and talk to him, and then Coach [Clay] McGuire told me to come and speak with him on Monday.”
Initially, it was thought that Williams was ineligible this season due to transfer rules. However, according to McGuire – who heads up the Red Raiders’ special teams unit, Williams has been cleared to play.
“That is the way I understand it, yeah,” confirmed McGuire on Tuesday. “He’s got a real good shot. Only Mike Leach could bring a guy out of the stands and make it work.”
Granted, this kid had already played collegiality so it’s not like it was somebody practicing in their backyard for four months getting ready for some contest and now he’s the Texas Tech field goal kicker. Still, this a wild story.
This isn’t a story about some D-III team out in East Jesus New Hampshire; Texas Tech is the eighth ranked team in the nation.
