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PROVO — Perfection is hard to attain, and in the first three games of BYU football's 2015 season, it hasn't come up with its 2-1 record.
Except in one area.
Cougar placekicker Trevor Samson has been perfect from the spot with five field goals made on five attempts in the first three games of the season. The senior from Fresno, California, has had to test his leg from significant distance, too — he's made three kicks from more than 40 yards, as well as two from past the 30-yard mark.
Going back to 2014, Samson has converted on nine-straight field goal attempts. He's also converted 36 consecutive point-after touchdown attempts, and he's made 73-of-74 in his career.
Pressure much? Not for Samson.
"I just go in every game and enjoy what I'm doing," he said. "There are only so many people that start at field goal kicker in the nation, so I just enjoy every aspect of it.
"It's fun, and I try to keep it that way the whole time. This is my last year, and I won't be here forever. I just try to enjoy it; I don't put too much stress on myself."
The 5-foot-11 transfer from Fresno City College who teammates and coaches call "Lucky" wasn't always so. Samson joined the BYU scout team after his freshman season in Fresno, and he worked his way into the starting kicker job last year before driving 12-of-14 field goals through the upright, and 62-63 PATs.
Those two missed kicks would hurt him. Perfection, it seemed, was also his goal.
"It's definitely my expectation, always going 100 percent," Samson said. "Obviously, things happen. But when it does (go through the uprights), it's not a surprise to me. It's cool, I accomplished it, and then I move on to the next one."
Unlike many other college kickers, Samson doesn't have any pregame or in-game superstitions. The most he claims is a playlist of pregame music that currently includes the latest blend of Christian rap, but he's also been known to switch that up — to rock, classics and even some soundtracks.
His musical preferences aren't as consistent as his kicking game.
"It just depends on what I want to listen to, what I'm in the mood for," he said.
By his final season, Samson has learned to trust the guys around him, too. Among the many hats worn by wide receiver Mitchell Juergens is that of Samson's holder, and the native of Houston has tried to do everything he can to make sure his kicker's role is simple.
"We want to make Trevor's job as easy as possible," Juergens said. "If me and (snapper Matt Foley) can get the timing right, get the ball down in the same spot with the same angle, he's just going out and kicking."
Sometimes everything doesn't go quite as planned. Foley may snap the ball high, or Juergens holds the ball at a slightly tilted angle. On rare occasions, like he did with a 45-yard make that squeaked over the ball last weekend in the Rose Bowl against UCLA, Samson takes a chunk out of the turf before smacking his kick.
In those rare moments when everything isn't just right on the field goal unit, the trio talk. And the conversation is always easy — and sometimes humorous.
"I thought it would be short," said Samson, who laughed with Juergens as they trotted off the field. "That's why I went nuts afterward; I hit the ground, and even Mitch said 'Did you hit the ground? I felt it. I heard it.'
"It was great. That was a big boost, a fun kick."
It's a nice luxury to have for a college program, special teams coordinator Kelly Poppinga said.
"He's done a really good job the last two years," the coach said of Samson. "When he's coming out on the field, we have a lot of confidence. I think he has a lot of confidence in himself. In the past, there have been times when we've had some situations where we weren't super confident when the field goal unit was coming out on the field."
The 45-yard field goal that narrowly cleared the bar in the Rose Bowl tied Samson's career-long record against Memphis last year. But Juergens said if that's what Samson does when his foot hits the ground first, he's confident the BYU kicker can put in just about anything.
"If he would have kicked that solid, it would've been good for 55 yards," Juergens said. "Trevor is awesome, and even with little mistakes, he's consistent enough to where he can still put points on the board."
