SNOHOMISH — On Sunday, most of the Pacific Northwest was focused on the Seattle Seahawks battling the New England Patriots in pursuit of a second consecutive Super Bowl championship.
Glacier Peak senior Spencer Pettit, who is one of the highest ranked high-school football kickers in the country, was watching the game too, but he was also mulling perhaps the biggest decision of his life — where he would play football and get his education in college.
A recruiting process that started with a visit from Washington State University when Pettit was just a sophomore, concluded with a visit to WSU this past weekend. In between, Pettit was heavily recruited by seven schools and talked to numerous others.
One of those schools, the University of Nevada, has found itself a new kicker.
Pettit will become a member of the Wolf Pack later this year, joining the team as a preferred walk-on.
“The Wazzu visit was nice, obviously the facilities are nice and the coaching staff is amazing, but when I was at Nevada it felt right,” Pettit said. “It felt like it was the place to be.
“It’s a brotherhood similar to high school, which I really liked.”
According to Pettit, he will redshirt as a freshman and spend his second year behind Nevada’s current kicker Brent Zuzo. If he performs well, the coaching staff has told him he will start his final three years of college.
“It’s perfectly laid out,” Pettit said. “I’m learning from a great guy in Brent Zuzo. We can help each other out while kicking. Redshirting, I still get to travel with the team and then getting three years to start is pretty phenomenal.”
Pettit is ranked eighth nationally by Chris Sailer, one of the most respected high-school kicking experts in the country, but the recruiting process for a kicker is far different than that of a skill-position player.
Kickers are often the last players to be offered scholarships. Pettit said an unusually high amount of scholarships were handed out last season to high-school kickers, meaning many highly ranked kickers are joining teams as preferred walk-ons hoping to earn a scholarship after they arrive rather than being offered a scholarship outright.
Of the top nine kickers in the country, Pettit said four have accepted preferred walk-ons (including himself), four others will accept scholarships and the other is undecided.
As long as Pettit does well during his redshirt year he will earn a scholarship for his second season.
“They’ve told me that their whole deal is that they want to recruit from within,” Pettit said. “They said they’ll for sure offer a kicker next year, so if I’m not performing then they’ll go find a high-school guy. If I’m performing then I’ll just get the scholarship, so really it’s up to me.
“They want to know you can perform, so they offer that walk-on and hope to scholarship you. They really want you to come in and earn it and prove it to them while you’re there, rather than just give the scholarship and take the risk on a high-school guy.”
Eastern Washington University offered Pettit a partial scholarship and he had preferred walk-on offers from the University of Washington, WSU and Nevada. Penn State, Idaho and Memphis also contacted Pettit to gauge his interest in taking a preferred walk-on spot. The recruiting process has lasted for over two years, but Pettit said it got easier the closer he got to making his decision.
“It’s been tough, just being a kicker,” Pettit said. “Schools will pop in and you’re talking to them for a while and then out of nowhere you’re not talking to them anymore. During the season, you’re trying to focus on playing games while taking visits to go watch other college games that weekend. It’s been tough, but then these last couple of months you can tell who’s really serious about you and who really needs you and want you. The last month made it a lot easier to choose.” He’s kicked in pressure situations and the recruiting process was like a prolonged field-goal attempt, but Pettit was all smiles after making his decision.
“It’s awesome,” Pettit said. “Who doesn’t want to be in this situation?
“You’re playing big-time football and that’s what you want.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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