Utah Utes football: Kicker makes the most of his opportunity

He's just a regular Joe who wasn't a star in high school, was never recruited by any big schools and who had to practically beg the coach at his junior college just to walk on. Yet now he plays one of the most important positions for a major-college football program.

Joe Phillips is the starting placekicker for the Utah football team. Not many people could have imagined Phillips would be the Utes' starting placekicker at this point after he began the year as their third-stringer. But here he is, with the pressure of making important kicks placed squarely on his shoulders, er, right foot.

"Joe Phillips has stepped up to the plate and done a nice job for us," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "He's got a good demeanor for a kicker, and not much bothers him. We've got a lot of confidence in him right now."

The 23-year-old from Alpine has only been the Utes' main kicker for 21/2 games, but so far he's been perfect. He's made all five field goal attempts and all eight PAT tries.

"Any time you can be 100 percent, it's a great feeling," he said. "It really shows your preparation — coach Whit always says what you do during the week shows up on Saturday."

It's been a remarkable journey for Phillips, going from former JC walk-on to the replacement for Ute kicking legend Louie Sakoda.

Last winter, as the Utes were making preparations for their Sugar Bowl game with Alabama, Phillips asked Ute assistant Jay Hill, the special teams coordinator, to come watch him play for Snow College in the Top of the Mountain Bowl at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Hill was impressed enough to invite him to walk on to the U. team, which is more than Phillips got two years earlier when he was turned down as a walk-on at Snow, only to be invited back several days later after practice had started.

Phillips went through spring camp, but wasn't even in the mix for the U.'s placekicking duties, with Ben Vroman battling Nick Marsh, a freshman recruited from Petaluma, Calif. The Utes were planning to redshirt Phillips this year.

However, Marsh was suspended indefinitely for an off-the-field altercation during preseason camp. Then when Vroman missed three field goals — which didn't even come close — against San Jose State, Phillips was suddenly summoned for duty.

"Joe, get warmed up, you're going in for the next kick," Hill told him after consulting with Whittingham during the third quarter of a tie game.

Phillips made two PATs and a field goal that night, added three PATs and a field goal a week later in Oregon and then made three field goals, including a 48-yarder, and three PATs last week against Louisville.