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ENLARGE
Chris Ulinksi was hardly thinking much about football when he returned to the University of Nevada campus in Reno this fall.
The 2005 Nevada Union graduate was too busy hitting the books, the dining hall and, eventually, the rugby field.
"I guess I'd gained my freshman 15," Ulinski said. "I had grown up my whole life playing sports and now I'm not. So rugby gives me something to do three days a week. And it gives me a core group of friends."
Splitting the uprights with the football couldn't have been much further from his mind. He hadn't kicked in a game since NU's 2004 section-runner-up season. And that season was his only year of football, having been recruited from the school's soccer squad.
"I thought my kicking days were over," Ulinski said.
And then it happened.
Former NU teammate Brennan McFadden asks him for a highlight video of his high school kicking career. McFadden turns the tape over to Utah State University football coaches, who had suddenly found themselves with just one kicker on the roster.
The 2005 Nevada Union graduate was too busy hitting the books, the dining hall and, eventually, the rugby field.
"I guess I'd gained my freshman 15," Ulinski said. "I had grown up my whole life playing sports and now I'm not. So rugby gives me something to do three days a week. And it gives me a core group of friends."
Splitting the uprights with the football couldn't have been much further from his mind. He hadn't kicked in a game since NU's 2004 section-runner-up season. And that season was his only year of football, having been recruited from the school's soccer squad.
"I thought my kicking days were over," Ulinski said.
And then it happened.
Former NU teammate Brennan McFadden asks him for a highlight video of his high school kicking career. McFadden turns the tape over to Utah State University football coaches, who had suddenly found themselves with just one kicker on the roster.
A few weeks later, Ulinski's headed for Logan, Utah, to join McFadden, fellow NU grad James Brindley and the Aggies football program.
"It's seriously like a dream come true," said Ulinski, who finished his finals at UNR last week and prepared the move to Utah, where he will start his next semester of school in January. "I'm kind of still waiting to wake up.
"Anyone who's played a sport in high school and don't get the chance to go further ... I'm just as stunned as they are, or would be. I'm just so glad I got lucky enough to get the opportunity."
But it wasn't just luck.
McFadden, who just wrapped up his sophomore season - playing both offensive line and tight end for the Aggies - said Ulinski immediately came to mind upon learning of Utah State's dire depth-chart crisis at kicker.
"Our kickers didn't produce and our head coach let one go, another left and the one kicker we had was also a walk-on," said McFadden. "I told James, 'Dude, Chris Ulinski's better than this guy.'"
So on a whim, McFadden gets his hand on the tape and talks his coaches into taking a look. Then one day a coach asks him for Ulinski's phone number.
"He said 'Can I have Chris' phone number?' and I thought he was talking about someone on the team," McFadden said. "He said 'Chris Ulinski.'
"It's seriously like a dream come true," said Ulinski, who finished his finals at UNR last week and prepared the move to Utah, where he will start his next semester of school in January. "I'm kind of still waiting to wake up.
"Anyone who's played a sport in high school and don't get the chance to go further ... I'm just as stunned as they are, or would be. I'm just so glad I got lucky enough to get the opportunity."
But it wasn't just luck.
McFadden, who just wrapped up his sophomore season - playing both offensive line and tight end for the Aggies - said Ulinski immediately came to mind upon learning of Utah State's dire depth-chart crisis at kicker.
"Our kickers didn't produce and our head coach let one go, another left and the one kicker we had was also a walk-on," said McFadden. "I told James, 'Dude, Chris Ulinski's better than this guy.'"
So on a whim, McFadden gets his hand on the tape and talks his coaches into taking a look. Then one day a coach asks him for Ulinski's phone number.
"He said 'Can I have Chris' phone number?' and I thought he was talking about someone on the team," McFadden said. "He said 'Chris Ulinski.'
"And I said 'What?!'"
It wasn't McFadden's first successful recruitment of a former teammate, having helped lure Brindley to Logan, and possibly not his last, with NU senior quarterback Chad Mason set to make a recruiting visit.
"Hopefully," McFadden said. "We'll get him up here, too."
No matter what the outcome, Ulinski said he'll always be grateful to his former teammate for helping him get his shot - even if it's in the cold climate he experienced during an official visit to campus.
"It was, like, eight degrees," Ulinski said, "But it could be negative degrees and I'd take it.
"I'm just so thankful for the opportunity and for him doing what he did. Without Brennan, even the possibility of this wouldn't have happened."
Ulinski believes that to be true because he did try to walk on at Reno, but he said the coaching staff didn't seem interested when he introduced himself.
It wasn't McFadden's first successful recruitment of a former teammate, having helped lure Brindley to Logan, and possibly not his last, with NU senior quarterback Chad Mason set to make a recruiting visit.
"Hopefully," McFadden said. "We'll get him up here, too."
No matter what the outcome, Ulinski said he'll always be grateful to his former teammate for helping him get his shot - even if it's in the cold climate he experienced during an official visit to campus.
"It was, like, eight degrees," Ulinski said, "But it could be negative degrees and I'd take it.
"I'm just so thankful for the opportunity and for him doing what he did. Without Brennan, even the possibility of this wouldn't have happened."
Ulinski believes that to be true because he did try to walk on at Reno, but he said the coaching staff didn't seem interested when he introduced himself.
"The interest wasn't there," he said. "I'd never hear back. It seemed like I was bugging them, but they didn't want to tell me."
There was one coach, however, who had long considered Ulinksi capable of kicking at the college level.
"He's a tremendous kicker. Definitely a Division I-scholarship-earning type of kicker," Nevada Union head coach Dave Humphers said, following a 60-0 win against McClatchy in 2004, a game in which Ulinski kicked a 56-yard field goal (2 yards shy of Zack McSweeney's school record set in 1994).
Humphers was happy to hear his evaluation of Ulinski's leg was spot on, even if it wasn't realized until two years later.
"That shows the respect that Brennan and James have earned from the coaching staff at Utah State," Humphers said. "For them to put so much credence into Brennan's words means a lot in terms of what Brennan has done there.
"And I'm so happy for Chris and his family. He's getting a chance to kick again and live a dream."
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To contact Sports Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail brianh@theunion.com or call 477-4240.
There was one coach, however, who had long considered Ulinksi capable of kicking at the college level.
"He's a tremendous kicker. Definitely a Division I-scholarship-earning type of kicker," Nevada Union head coach Dave Humphers said, following a 60-0 win against McClatchy in 2004, a game in which Ulinski kicked a 56-yard field goal (2 yards shy of Zack McSweeney's school record set in 1994).
Humphers was happy to hear his evaluation of Ulinski's leg was spot on, even if it wasn't realized until two years later.
"That shows the respect that Brennan and James have earned from the coaching staff at Utah State," Humphers said. "For them to put so much credence into Brennan's words means a lot in terms of what Brennan has done there.
"And I'm so happy for Chris and his family. He's getting a chance to kick again and live a dream."
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To contact Sports Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail brianh@theunion.com or call 477-4240.
