Focus or the lack of it — it is a story Will Ferrin knows all too well.
BYU claims an emotionally charged win. They climb in the polls and garner tons of national respect — and then they stumble against a team they should beat.
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"Football is an emotional game," the former BYU kicker told the "Y's Guys" livestream show. "You get caught in the emotion every week."
Call it "brains over brawn" or "mind over muscle." Whatever it is, it's not exclusive to the Cougars. A loss of mental focus can clip any team or athlete in any sport at any level and at any time.
When Ferrin's 44-yard field goal beat the Utes 22-21 in Salt Lake City in 2024, his Cougars improved to 9-0 and jumped to No. 7 in the AP Top 25. Life was good and the possibility of going undefeated was, well — possible. However, BYU responded with a mistake-laden 17-13 loss at home to Kansas and a 28-23 defeat at Arizona State.
"I think that experience was so hard for our team, not just getting over Utah, but losing to Kansas at home and going to Arizona State and having that experience with the field storming," he said. "That really stuck with all of us."
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The last two weeks have been a case of deja vu for Ferrin as BYU stunned No. 2 Notre Dame, skyrocketed to No. 2 in the polls and dominated the playoff discussion, only to get humbled
by UCF in a mistake-filled double-overtime defeat.
The mind game
The mind game is a tough game to play, and Ferrin had to face it head on during his sophomore season.
"I missed one PAT (point-after-try) in college, and it was my second game against Southern Utah," he said. "I was going into it like 'a PAT is kind of nothing,' and that one, I remember seeing it sail to the right and that caught me a little bit and set the tone for the rest of my career at BYU. I had to approach a PAT like it's a 60-yard field goal."
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With renewed focus, Ferrin didn't miss another PAT. Of his 123 PATs for the Cougars, he made 122. His 2024 team also recovered from its skid to beat Houston and rout Colorado in the Alamo Bowl to finish 11-2. Ferrin expects the current Cougars (6-1) to charge back Saturday against Arizona State (1:30 p.m., Fox).
"The culture gets stronger every year. It seems like the guys (that) BYU pulls from the portal and even the freshmen that come in, every year are at a higher level and more willing to buy in and that's been very prevalent for this team," Ferrin said. "I really think the sky is the limit. It's been a hard weekend for them, but I think that is a great way to start a fire and get this team going for the last half of the season."
Beating the Utes
As for that kick to beat the Utes, for a local kid who grew up planning to kick for the Cougars, it remains second to none.
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"I started kicking on a team in fifth grade (with the notion) I'm going to be a kicker and play at BYU," he said. "When you are that kid growing up, kicking a game winner at Rice-Eccles Stadium is a dream. It was exciting. A lot of preparation went into it, and I think being able to go out, all 11 of us that were out there executing, there is not much better than that."
No. 8 BYU returns to the scene of Ferrin's famous kick on Nov. 7 to try to beat the No. 6 Utes for a fourth-straight time.
Waiting for a call
Ferrin is never too far from his phone. The free agent kicker, who was released by the Jets in the offseason, believes his NFL debut is one call away.
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"It's crazy turnover," he said. "The stage I'm in right now is to make sure I'm ready (for) any given week to go in and hit field goals."
To stay ready, Ferrin follows an NFL-based regimen. He kicks three times a week at BYU. He has an agent to pitch his talents and social media to show off his stuff.
"BYU has a Trackman device that gives me all the data, and I've been posting some on Instagram," he said. "You get to see how far the ball is good from, how fast it's moving off my foot and the height of it at the line of scrimmage."
On Monday, Ferrin drilled a 68-yard field goal and sent out the video hoping to catch the right team's attention.
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"It's an amazing thing to get the opportunity to even chase it," he said. "There are so few people that get a chance to pursue that and the people who make the rosters are so blessed and fortunate to be in that situation and the people that are bouncing around too are blessed and fortunate for the experiences that they are getting — and that is the mindset I've fallen back on is the blessing it is to have the experiences that I'm having."
Tough job
There are approximately 8.3 billion people on the planet and only 32 of them are kickers in the NFL. After a weekend of games marred by misses, for many, job security is shaky at best — and that's good for Ferrin.
"Emotionally, through my career, I've spent so much time learning mental performance and how to perform under pressure. Now, I need to take those principles and apply them to my entire life," he said. "I could get a call and play this Sunday, or I could not get a call and either way it's OK. If it's for football or something else in life, my wife and I are going to attack it the same way. For me, it's just staying ready to kick."
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Ferrin's future and BYU's bounceback come with no guarantees. However, maintaining the right focus will give both stories a much better chance at a happy ending.
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.com.
