SALT LAKE CITY — Utah football is poised to do something unique this fall. For the first time in college football history, a team enters a season with winners of both the Lou Groza and Ray Guy awards on its roster. The Utes have that distinction with Matt Gay and Mitch Wishnowsky gearing up for their senior years.
“They’re great weapons for us,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “You would have to tell me who in the country has a better 1-2 punch than we’ve got at those two specialist positions.”
Gay, the reigning Lou Groza Award winner as the nation’s best kicker, and Wishnowsky, the 2016 Ray Guy Award recipient and a finalist last season as the country’s top punter, are poised for encores.
Whittingham doesn’t think either one of the All-Americans will press and try to do too much. Same goes for getting too high on themselves.
“Both of these guys have outstanding work ethics and they’re both very committed to their craft and they want to get better,” Whittingham said. “That’s the key. They’re always trying to get better.”
Gay, who made 27 of 31 field-goal attempts and connected on all 37 PATs last season, acknowledged that there are always high expectations. As such, he’s determined to be even more effective — do what he did in 2017 and have an even better year this time around.
“You set high expectations and you really set yourself up to succeed,” Gay said. “Push yourself to the limits. That’s what I’m all about. I just want to come in and have another good year. Put pressure on myself to be better and get better.
“There’s always room to improve,” he continued. “So I just want to come in and improve and be the best that I can.”
Gay noted that it’s more of a drive than pressure. However, he said the latter is sometimes good. It helps you achieve things you don’t think you can normally. Gay added that it’s all about how you handle the pressure and the stress.
“I think regardless of everyone else’s expectations, everyone puts a lot of pressure on themselves and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Wishnowsky said. “I think you just set high standards and put pressure on yourself.”
Although the two-time All-American would obviously like to reclaim the Ray Guy Award, it’s not his primary goal.
“I’m just focused on not necessarily winning the trophy but just having a good year and showing what I can do in my senior year,” Wishnowsky said. “I feel like I didn’t perform like I am capable of last year.”
Even so, Wishnowsky averaged 43.9 yards on 52 punts. He placed 10 kicks inside the 10-yard line.
Mentoring also proved to be a strength.
“He’s amazing at what he does. It was good for me to come in last year with a role model that kind of took me under his wing and showed me the ropes — helped me learn things,” Gay said. “It’s special to have the two (national award) winners on the same team.”
Wishnowsky noted that it’s “clearly a good special teams weapon” for the Utes. So, too, he explained, is having Britain Covey back from an LDS Church mission.
“Our returns should be awesome as well,” Wishnowsky said.
As far as the team is concerned, both Gay and Wishnowsky are determined to go out on a high note.
“I think first and foremost this team knows the potential it has. I think last year we didn’t live up to the potential that we knew we had,” Gay said. “So this year it’s a new change of focus. Everyone’s locked in.”
Winning the division and conference, he continued, is part of the plan in getting to a big game like the Rose Bowl or something like that.
“As long as we can stay healthy I’ve got high expectations,” Wishnowsky said. “Last year seemed to be more of a rebuilding year after losing tons of our seniors. I’d like to go out winning the Pac-12.”
Utah enters the fight well armed, especially when it comes to kicking and punting.
“Without a doubt the best 1-2 punch,” Gay concluded.