By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

There's just something about that fourth Saturday in September that rubs Connor Martin the right way.

Last year, with starting kicker Chris Callahan suspended, the freshman walk-on kicker was true on all five extra points in a 35-24 win over Oklahoma State.

"I think it gave me a lot of confidence coming into this year, just knowing that I had been there and done it," said Martin, an all-state kicker and punter at Centennial High School in Frisco, Texas. "So, I would say absolutely it helped. It was an open competition after that. I wasn't able to secure the job, but I learned from it."

After winning the place-kicking job in the spring and fall camp, Martin came through in a big way in Saturday's 49-41 loss to third-ranked Oklahoma. After pulling a 35-yard attempt wide left in the first quarter, he connected on field goals of 32, 36, 41 and a career-long 46-yarder and was a perfect 3-for-3 on extra points.

Martin said short snapper Chris Lutzel and holder Clint Kelly have "been amazing. I wouldn't want anyone else out there with me," adding that the first miss "was on me."

"At that point in the night, I needed to make an adjustment," he said. "So, I told them, if I had made that kick, I might not have made the later ones, because I needed to make an adjustment and I needed to fix some things. You've got to take those things and use it as a learning opportunity."

Calling it a "small, technical thing," Martin said his "plant foot was too tight" on the missed field goal attempt. "Little things like that is all it takes."

During fall camp, first-year head coach Matt Rhule had said punter Drew Galitz would also handle kickoffs and long field goals. But against OU, it was Martin that became the first Baylor kicker to hit two 40-yarders in the same game in five years (Aaron Jones versus Texas).

"I'm very confident," said Martin, who was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday. "I think I've kind of gained their trust a little bit. Drew has a really strong leg, and I think it's kind of a game-to-game basis, just seeing what my range is. This past week, I was hitting from 52 yards pretty easily in warm-ups. I think if they can see me doing that in practice and warm-ups, then they don't have a problem letting me kick the long ones."

Coming out of high school, Martin had a partial scholarship offer from Abilene Christian and an invitation to walk on at UTSA, "but other than that, I wasn't really recruited a lot."

Cornerback Raleigh Texada, his teammate at Centennial and one of 10 scholarship recruits that stuck with Baylor in the 2016 recruiting class, passed on Martin's name to the coaches.

"He's really how I got my foot in the door," Martin said of Texada, who redshirted last season and has been out with an injury this year. "It was Coach (Jim) Gush at the time. He told me, 'You can come walk on here, we want you.' It was really exciting."

While he handled all of the kicking duties in high school, "field goals are my passion," and his goal coming into this year was to win the place-kicking job. Through the spring and fall camp, he competed with Galitz and sophomore walk-on Peter Webster.

"Drew and I, we have a great relationship," Martin said, "and I think we do a good job of kind of pushing each other. He likes to punt and I like to kick, but we still push each other."

Martin's only other miss of the year was a shorter extra point at Duke that hit the upright. Through the first four games this season, he ranks 21st nationally and first in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (6-of-7, 85.7 percent) and 24th nationally and first in the league in field goals per game (1.5).

Since he has complete faith in the snapper and holder, Martin said, "Really, you just try to clear your mind. You're not focusing on if the kick is going to be good or if it's going to be bad. You're just focusing on that rep and how it should feel coming off your foot,."

Although he called the two 40-yarders against Oklahoma "the peak of my career so far," Martin said the team went into the game fully expecting to knock off the heavily favored Sooners.

"We expected to win, and I think we all felt confident that we would win," he said. "Obviously, it was a great game for me. I haven't been more excited than when I made those two longer ones. But, it doesn't make losing any easier, that's for sure."

The Bears (0-4) go on the road this week to face Kansas State (2-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.