Austin McNamara back in familiar place when Texas Tech football visits BYU
In a Texas Tech football program that's been blessed with quite a few quality punters, Austin McNamara's numbers suggest he's the best. As his college career nears a conclusion, McNamara already has the school and Big 12 single-season records for punting average, is a cinch to finish with the career record for punting average at Tech and has a shot at that Big 12 mark, too.
It's been a smooth five years — five years that might well have been interrupted, given that McNamara and his family are Mormons.
"We had several schools that, when they found out we were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stopped talking to us," Brian McNamara said of his son's experience with college football recruiters. "Guys flew all the way across the country, Austin hit 5.0 hang-time balls in the spring, and found out that we went to BYU, he might serve a mission and they said, no thanks."
Texas Tech, and its then-new coach Matt Wells, was an exception. Wells was willing to sign McNamara on mutually agreeable terms, let him go on an LDS mission after two years and leave the door open for a return.
Instead, McNamara had immediate success and never hit pause at any point. Come Saturday, he'll visit a stadium he knows well. Texas Tech plays on the road at Brigham Young, the university where his parents met and earned degrees.
Loyal to their alma mater, the McNamaras have gone to many BYU games — since 2005, from their home in a suburb of Phoenix. This week, they're rounding up about 50 tickets.
"I have a lot of family members there, a lot of friends back home and in Utah as well," McNamara said. "I'm real excited to be able to see them, to play in front of them. I don't get out west as much ... so it'll be great to see them. It's going to be a great atmosphere, great environment. I've been in that stadium multiple times, and it's going to be a lot of fun."
There's another incentive for the Tech punter to do well this week.
McNamara and BYU punter Ryan Rehkow rank sixth and seventh in the FBS this season with averages of 48.26 yards a punt and 48.15 yards.
It's not as marquee a matchup as one between star quarterbacks, but it's special as specialists go.
"Austin knows, this is two of the best punters in the country," Tech special teams coordinator Kenny Perry said. "Austin's no different than anybody else. He's competitive. He wants to beat them, and when he gets his chance, like I told him, you get to go hang some balls up in the altitude, we'll go cover and we'll see what happens."
Rehkow returned from an LDS mission to join the BYU program as a freshman in 2020. BYU showed McNamara some recruiting interest, but not to the point of offering a scholarship. Wells, on the other hand, offered McNamara a scholarship when he was coach at Utah State and, after changing jobs, kept courting him for Tech.
Austin loved Wells, his father said, especially with Wells being amenable to McNamara leaving early if he wanted.
"Austin wasn't a hundred percent sure if he should serve or not," Brian McNamara said, "but coach Wells was the only one that would work with him, work with us, so the plan was for Austin to play two seasons — go to school for a year and a half — and then if he wanted to serve a mission, coach Wells said he will kick him out the door himself and hold a scholarship while he's gone for two years."
When it came time to revisit a course of action, McNamara had been a freshman all-American and two-time first-team all-Big 12.
"He prayed about it, fasted about it to figure out whether he wanted to serve a mission," Brian McNamara said, "and his answer was, 'I'm going to serve a mission in a little bit different way,' using that platform as a college football player to be a good example and to answer questions about the church when asked and just do his part to be a good human, and he's done that quite well. I know he's been a good influence on his teammates. He's answered a lot of questions about the church over the years and he's doing great."
McNamara had another decision to make after his fourth season with the Red Raiders. Two days after Tech ended last season with a victory in the Texas Bowl, he announced he'd return on the Covid-bonus year.
"The decision to come back has been one of the best decisions I've ever made," he said. "Just because I've been able to grow on and off the field in the off-season, putting in the work to be able to perform the best I can on the field.
"I think that's shown so far this year, and that's my number-one goal, just to do my best to be elite in my craft and help the defense out and the team as much as I can, so coming back has been a huge thing for me."
College football
Who: Texas Tech at Brigham Young
When: 6 p.m. CDT Saturday
Where: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, Utah
Records: Texas Tech 3-4, 2-2 in the Big 12; BYU 4-2, 1-2
Rankings: Both teams unranked
Line: Texas Tech by 4 1/2. Over-under: 52 points
TV: Fox Sports 1
Last game: Kansas State 38, Texas Tech 21; TCU 44, BYU 11
Last meeting: Texas Tech 21, BYU 20 in 1940 in Lubbock
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Austin McNamara back in familiar spot when Texas Tech football visits BYU
