BYU freshman shares his improbable journey to a $3M field goal kick

PROVO — A BYU student who made a kick for $3 million on ESPN's College GameDay said Monday the impact of the financial windfall was still sinking in, and he described an improbable chain of events that led to the opportunity.

Freshman Carter Smith admitted on Monday he didn't entirely know what he was getting into before camping out for the famed college football preview show, which was on campus ahead of BYU's Top 10 matchup versus Notre Dame.

"My buddy, Andrew, said, 'Do you want to go to GameDay?'" Smith told KSL. "I said, 'What's GameDay?' All I knew is that BYU was going to be facing Notre Dame, and there was going to be this big event."

Fast forward to Friday, when Smith, wearing a Spider-Man costume, found himself in line all day and into the early morning hours Saturday with his friend.

"It was about 4 a.m. They let everybody go into the pit, and the first 300 people get a little ticket," Smith said. "This ticket has your number on it."

Smith said at around 8:30 a.m., show workers called a number that was not his to attempt a 33-yard field goal in Pat McAfee's "Kicking is Easy" contest.

"It's actually a different student, and he didn't have his physical ID in hand," Smith explained. "Because of that, he wasn't able to kick."

Smith said he was actually hoping his number would not be called because he didn't want to disappoint his family or the crowd, but show organizers drew another number, and it was his.

Fortunately, he did have his ID with him to participate.

"I played soccer basically my entire life," Smith explained. "I served my mission in Argentina, so I stayed playing soccer that whole two years. I played football in high school the whole four years, but I was never the kicker. I think I've kicked maybe two field goals in my entire life just for fun outside of games, so really all my experience came from playing soccer."

Smith said his anxiety climbed as the money on the line for the kick climbed to a lofty $3 million, with $1 million commitments from McAfee, Smith Entertainment Group Chairman and CEO Ryan Smith, as well as Utah Jazz minority owner Ryan Sweeney.

"I think the pressure just kept stacking, you know," the freshman said. "I felt even more nervous about what I was going to have to do."

The first attempt didn't go well.

"I was in my Birkenstocks, and so obviously it's not a good shoe to be kicking a football," Smith said. "Some of the people in the crowd actually gave me a pair of running shoes. They were kind of bulky, and so when I kicked, it just felt off. I kicked kind of low and to the right."

He was surprised to learn he would get one more chance, and after a few pointers, he lined up again.

"This time I was aiming more up and to the left," Smith explained. "I took my time this time. I took my shoes off, so I just went barefoot, and I ran up and I kicked it, and it felt good. I made good contact, and if you look, it's kind of a knuckleball. It's not like a beautiful field goal you see on TV, but it went through, and I was stoked."

Smith characterized the time since the kick as a "whirlwind."

"These last 24 hours have been kind of chaotic just with the amount of people trying to contact me — friends, family, financial advisors," Smith said. "I think it's a blessing. I'm grateful for it, and so I'm just trying to make the best of it."

Smith said he didn't know but was guessing he would owe at least $700,000 in taxes as well as tithing on top of that.

He still couldn't believe how the whole situation unfolded.

"That it worked out the way it did is honestly a miracle," Smith said. "I almost sold my ticket in line because I didn't want to spend the night for $400 to a guy on the sideline, and I didn't," Smith said.

Smith said the experience taught him he didn't necessarily have to be perfect to find success.

"I was supposed to get one kick, and I got two," Smith said. "(I'm) just kind of going with the flow and just remembering my goals and everything will work out. That's the big takeaway from me."

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