The representative from ProKick Australia, an institution “dedicated to the training, mentorship and successful transition of Australian athletes into the collegiate and professional ranks of American football, particularly within the college/NFL sphere,” according to its website, kindly told BYU special teams coordinator Kelly Poppinga that he was looking in the wrong place for the Cougars’ next punter.
The guy you want isn’t in Melbourne at the moment, the Aussie told Poppinga, who had made a stop at the academy during his visit to the Land Down Under to meet with defensive end Adney Reid, a Spanish Fork native the Cougars were recruiting last fall. Reid’s father, Gabe, played tight end for BYU from 1999-02 and was serving as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sydney.
“The bloke you really want is already in the United States,” the punting instructor told Poppinga, noting he had done his homework on BYU and knew that the Cougars had a lot of older, married players.
“I went out there and watched a bunch of guys kick,” Poppinga said Tuesday as No. 14 BYU prepared for Saturday’s Big 12 showdown with 3-2 Arizona at LaVell Edwards Stadium (2 p.m., Fox). “They said, ‘Hey, we got a guy named Sam Vander Haar that is leaving Pitt that I think you will really be interested in. He is married, a little older. We think he would be a great fit for BYU.’”
Poppinga was connected to ProKick by BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who used the academy extensively when he was at Utah and Weber State. Former University of Utah punter Mitch Wishnowsky, now punting for the San Francisco 49ers, is one of ProKick’s products in the NFL, along with Michael Dickson of the Seattle Seahawks and Cameron Johnston of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Two-time Ray Guy Award winner Tom Hackett, a former Utes punter, is also from Australia and a ProKick product.
Poppinga returned to the U.S., saw that Vander Haar had entered the transfer portal after the Panthers’ spring camp in 2023, and contacted the 27-year-old from Australia.
“So we watched his film, and then from there started recruiting him, brought him in on a visit here, and they fell in love with the place, he and his wife,” Poppinga said. “And we fell in love with them.”
Vander Haar met his future wife, Hallie, at the end of 2019 while on a hike in the Pittsburgh area and the couple married in 2022. From Cleveland, she graduated from Duquesne (the school that upset BYU basketball in the Big Dance last March) and is now a 30-year-old traveling nurse.
Vander Haar, 27, finds it “quite ironic” that he is the oldest player on the team, but didn’t serve a two-year mission like many BYU athletes do because he is not a member of the Latter-day Saint faith.
“It has been amazing to have guys over here that I can share experiences with,” he said. “I am definitely an old cat, but it is nice to have guys like (defensive end) Tyler Batty and other guys on the team that I can share commonalities with, just because of our age and life experience. So it has been really great.”
Why is he a little bit older?
Vander Haar played Australian rules football between the ages of 6-20, but when it didn’t work out professionally, he says he “looked at a new avenue” and tried his hand, or foot, actually, at punting.
“That’s when I found ProKick Australia. Pretty much all the Australian punters you see on TV are pretty much all from that program,” he said. “So I joined them in 2020, and was there for a little while, and then obviously got recruited by Pitt.”
Said Poppinga: “The ProKick coaches were right. He’s been an awesome fit here. He has bought into the culture, and he has really thrived. He’s been a great fit and already done some great stuff for us this season.”
How the fake punt vs. Baylor was pulled off
One of those great things Vander Haar has done came in the second half of the 34-28 win over Baylor, when the Aussie channeled his Australian football roots and supremely executed a fake punt that went for 22 yards. It led to BYU’s only points of the second half, a Will Ferrin field goal.
Vander Haar told BYUtv the Cougars have been practicing the fake all fall, waiting for the right time to do it. He said he asks Poppinga to call it pretty much every time he goes out to punt.
“I love fakes,” he said. “… For me, it is a very comfortable feeling running with the ball. I had to learn the ball security aspect of actually protecting the ball, but with the Australian rules football background, running with the ball wasn’t super uncommon. I think I was less nervous to do it, to be honest.”
Poppinga said for some of the members of the coaching staff, it was extra sweet because Baylor successfully executed an onside kick against BYU three years ago in Waco en route to a 38-24 win.
“We gave them one extra possession the last time we were down there, so we had to find a way to steal one. And so yeah, it was fun to see those guys really execute in that moment,” Poppinga said. “So yeah, it completely changed the game.”
Poppinga and Vander Haar said it wouldn’t have happened without the blocking of guys such as Tanner Wall, Jack Kelly, John Nelson and Batty.
“It was just the right place, right time, and it all fit together,” Poppinga said. “Talking to Kalani throughout the game, he said, ‘Hey, if you feel good about it, I feel good about it.’ And then Jay (Hill) had given me the green light, and we executed it.”
Why Vander Haar won the punting job
When the season began, Vander Haar and Landon Rehkow — younger brother of Cincinnati Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow — were listed as co-starters at punter on the depth chart. Vander Haar got the first work, against Southern Illinois, but the two rotated the first two and a half games of the season.
Rehkow shanked a punt against Wyoming, and Vander Haar has been the man since then. Not only did he perfectly execute the fake punt against Baylor, he got off another one that pinned the Bears at their 3-yard-line.
“He is not perfect yet. We gotta do some better stuff at just the scheme that we are doing. But we are really pleased with how far he has come,” Poppinga said of Vander Haar. “He didn’t kick a ton at Pitt. I don’t think they really knew how to use him, like the experience Jay has, and I have, with using rugby punters.”
Poppinga acknowledged the competition was “pretty tight” in fall camp, which is why both punters got reps early in the season.
“As the season has gone on, Sam has really kind of excelled and just shown that he is the guy.
“I would say at this point, yeah (Sam has won job),” Poppinga said. “At this point there are still some things we can do and will do with Landon. … But yeah, I would say right now that Sam is the mainstay as the punter.”
Regardless of whether he won the job or not, Vander Haar said he made the right decision in coming to Provo, just as his late grandfather did years ago when he migrated from Amsterdam to Australia, taking his Dutch bloodlines to the place locals call “Oz.”
“It was just a really good fit for not only myself, but my wife as well, just being a little bit older,” he said. “We very much love everything BYU stands for, even religiously, even though we are not a part of the faith. We think it is really special how there is a really large investment in that.
“I just think a lot of the guys on the team have a really good perspective on life, and it makes you play better football in my opinion,” he continued. “I knew it was a place where I could come and compete, and win, and being a highly competitive person, I really wanted to go somewhere where I could contribute to a team’s success, and also become a better person as well. So this was kind of a no-brainer for me, to be honest.”