UNLV finds perfect kicker in transfer Evan Pantels

The snap wasn’t perfect, but UNLV kicker Evan Pantels still is this season after booting a game-winning 28-yard field goal with 49 seconds left to lift the Rebels to a 41-38 victory over Hawaii early Sunday at Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium.

Pantels, a junior college transfer from Georgia Military College, was recruited by UNLV primarily as a punter but also won the kicking job in fall camp and is 6-for-6 on field goals and 30-for-30 on extra points for the Rebels (3-4, 2-1 Mountain West), who will host Colorado State (3-4, 1-2) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“I knew he had it in him,” UNLV cornerbacks coach J.D. Williams said. “The guy’s like ice. He never gets rattled.”

Williams is the main reason Pantels left his native Georgia for UNLV. When Williams was the special teams coordinator at Georgia State, he recruited him at nearby Peachtree Ridge High School.

“The kid was electric. The ball was jumping off his foot,” said Williams, who played in four straight Super Bowls for the Buffalo Bills. “We didn’t have a kicker spot, but we got him to walk on.”

Pantels took a redshirt season in 2014, but not before almost winning the kicking job in camp over Wil Lutz — who as the New Orleans Saints’ rookie kicker also booted a winning field goal from 52 yards in a 41-38 win Sunday over the Carolina Panthers.

Williams said Pantels actually won the competition with Lutz.

“(Lutz) didn’t do anything to lose the position. Evan was just kicking that much better,” Williams said. “So we promised him a scholarship the next year because we knew Wil was going to be moving on.”

But after Williams joined the Rebels’ staff last season, Georgia State didn’t honor Pantels’ scholarship and the kicker moved on to junior college. Williams then suggested that UNLV coach Tony Sanchez sign him.

“He was kind of a free agent, so we said, ‘Hey, come out here,’ because we knew he was a good kicker, and the punting’s a plus,” Williams said. “I’m just glad we have him here.”

So is Sanchez, who has been most impressed with Pantels’ punting. Replacing three-year starter Logan Yunker, Pantels is averaging 42.3 yards per punt and has put eight inside the 20-yard line, including a 54-yarder that pinned Hawaii on its 3.

“His ability to drop punts inside the 10-yard line has been just unbelievable,” Sanchez said. “When you’re sitting there at the 38 and thinking, ‘Do you go for it or do you punt?’ the way he’s putting the ball inside the 10, it’s a pretty easy decision.”

Pantels also handles most of the kickoffs and booted a key touchback after his winning kick that forced the Rainbow Warriors to start from their 25. Hawaii turned the ball over on downs after four consecutive incompletions.

“By the end of the game, you’re a little beat, but it’s great doing everything and that they trust me to do all those kicks for them,” Pantels said.

A former soccer player, Pantels first tried kicking field goals his junior year of high school and said he “ended up falling in love with it.” He only played football his senior year, when in the season opener he kicked a school-record 53-yard field goal in the Georgia Dome.

The stakes were higher at Aloha Stadium, but Pantels said he tried to approach his first game-winning kick like any other.

“It was extremely loud in the stadium, with all 30,000 of the fans there, and of course you always have a little bit of a nervous feeling,” Pantels said. “But coach Sanchez said, ‘We do it a million times in practice and it’s just like that.’”

Except for the bad snap, which holder Kurt Palandech corralled to allow Pantels to remain perfect for the Rebels.

“I saw the snap come out. Kurt just scooped it up real quick and got the hold down so it didn’t affect the kick that much,” Pantels said. “Having that game-winning kick was the best feeling ever.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter