BYU rugby star all smiles with 1st taste of college football


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PROVO — Jonny Linehan has played in international rugby events and helped the BYU rugby team win its fourth-straight national championship last May, going to unique heights in one of the beloved sports of his homeland in New Zealand.

But his first experience as a BYU football player went beyond any of it.

"The whole experience was crazy," said Linehan, the flyhalf-turned-punter. "I've never been treated like royalty before like that. The whole football experience was nuts."

It should be noted that helping BYU win four-straight national championships and three-straight Varsity Cup titles over perennial powerhouse Cal at Rio Tinto Stadium has its merits. As does Linehan's recent marriage to BYU soccer standout Marissa Nimmer.

But the college football experience — with a season-opener in front of a sold-out Memorial Stadium packed with 90,000 fans — was an experience the Auckland, New Zealand, native will never forget.

"The game itself was crazy," said Linehan, whose BYU team beat the Huskers 33-28 on a last-ditch Hail Mary. "Running out in front of Nebraska, who has some of the best fans in the world — they are loud, but also very respectful — within reason, obviously.

"It was awesome to run out there in front of 90,000 people, screaming at us, hoping we don't do well. I felt like I played pretty well, and then the way we finished the game was just surreal. It was just a dream."

Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Photo: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Even the biggest rugby stadium in New Zealand holds just about 50,000 people, and the rules of the game have made translating his punting role to his family back home a bit difficult. But after a nerve-wracked summer and fall camp of learning how to straight-kick a slightly smaller egg-shaped ball (in full pads, nonetheless), the junior punter fared well in his first collegiate outing.

Linehan booted the ball 255 yards on five punts, averaging 51.0 yards per kick — tied for the second-best mark in the nation after one week. His long punt of 77 yards was aided by the wind, but the New Zealander's first punt went for 41 yards to the 12-yard line.

Not bad for a first try, he said.

"The first one, I was anxious, but it wasn't too bad," Linehan said. "We snapped it from just inside their half. Even if I missed it up, it would still be OK.

"From there, I feel like I'm better than that. But it was a good first kick to get under my belt. Next time, I hope to get it inside the 5."

Beyond the exciting Tanner Mangum-to-Mitch Mathews Hail Mary to end the game, special teams was one of the highlight phases, according to coordinator Kelly Poppinga, who also coaches the outside linebackers.

"I think the punt team performed really well," Poppinga said. "A lot had to do with the wind; Jonny kicked the ball well, but the wind helped him out with a couple of those punts. For his first college football game, I'm really happy with how he played."

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was also impressed with Linehan's debut, exclaiming "holy smokes" when he thought about the student-athlete's first test.

"From not knowing how the rugby transition would work and then being his first college game, (Linehan) was another one that didn't seem too worried about anything other than he was just having fun," Mendenhall said. "He was one of the differences in the game. Our punter was very, very good and I was pleased with that."


The whole experience was crazy. I've never been treated like royalty before like that. The whole football experience was nuts.

–BYU punter Jonny Linehan


Linehan was less aware of his relaxed pre-game persona. The punter said he was shaking in the tunnel before running out onto the field at Memorial Stadium, but he quickly put it behind him as he ran up and down the sideline and tried to encourage his teammates.

The attitude spread to his play, as well. Linehan rugby-hopped his first punt down to the 12-yard line, and he only had one touchback despite the strong headwind on an unusually blustery day in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Linehan worked extensively with BYU's sport psychologist, tennis coach Craig Manning, using cues to calm his nerves and help him focus on the job at hand.

"I think over fall camp the thing that will make me not perform to my standard is me trying to do too much, trying to kick the ball too much," Linehan said. "It's like a golf swing; if you try and smash it, you'll just slice it. It's the same here."

Linehan never dreamed of making golf analogies as a college student, nor in playing college football for an American university.

But he recognizes the chance he's been given, and he's taking control of it.

"It's definitely been a dream come true, but a dream that I didn't have for a while," he said. "Growing up, I never had a dream of playing college football. I'm humbled by the fact that I am living other people's dreams."

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