'Big-time' Arizona kicker Tyler Loop 'mastering his craft' in final hurrah with Wildcats

There aren’t too many current Arizona Wildcats who experienced arguably the darkest days in UA football history.

Kicker Tyler Loop, center Josh Baker, tight end Roberto Miranda and offensive lineman Leif Magnuson are the only players from Arizona’s 2020 recruiting class still on the team; defensive back Treydan Stukes joined as a preferred walk-on.

After joining the Wildcats out of Lucas, Texas, a northwest suburb of Dallas, Loop said his freshman season, the pandemic-influenced year that ended with the Wildcats losing to Arizona State 70-7, “sucked.”

“That was horrible,” Loop said. “Dark, dark days for Arizona. I remember a lot of us didn’t even want to wear our gear. No one wanted to wear anything Arizona-related to class to avoid talking about us getting trounced.”

As a team, the Wildcats weren’t successful on the field in Loop’s first two seasons. Individually, Loop struggled overcoming adversity, too. After former head coach Kevin Sumlin was fired and replaced with Jedd Fisch, Loop, who punted for the Wildcats in 2020, was removed from punting duties and became the backup kicker to Lucas Havrisik in ’21.

“That was a shot to my pride,” Loop said. “’I don’t want to sit and not punt. I want to punt! I’m really good at this!’ There was a part to the mental game where I had to learn how to put the pride aside and just enjoy the game for what it is and learn to be thankful. I get to put on pads and play in front of 50,000 people. Not everyone gets to do that.’”

Loop said the relationship with Havrisik “was very competitive.” Havrisik owns the UA record for longest field goal (57 yards).

“No doubt, at that time, Lucas had a bigger leg than me. Kickoffs were incredible, and he could kick the long ball. I had that, but I was light and didn’t have the weight-room strength. There was a little bit of competitive tension, but it was fun playing behind him and seeing how he worked.

“There were a lot of habits that I picked up from him, like how he approaches getting his body ready, the weight room, because Lucas grinded in the offseason. I wanted to be how Lucas was for the team. ... Lucas and I are friends and hang out. He’s someone I admire a lot. Now he’s got the expertise of the game.”

Havrisik, an NFL kicker on standby in Tucson, has shown Loop and the other Arizona kickers the “ins and outs of the game.”

Loop “was a very mature kid,” Havrisik said. But, like many young adults starting out college, Loop struggled with maturity. Loop recently graduated with a marketing major at Eller School of Management at the UA, but has plans of “going into some sort of ministry” when he’s done playing football. Loop is grounded in his nondenominational Christian faith.

“Most of my time outside of football is spent serving that,” Loop said. “I like going out to do food distribution, hanging out with my friends or hanging out with guys on the team, helping them grow.”

One of Loop’s closest friends and mentors is former Arizona walk-on defensive back Blake Pfaff, who graduated from Lovejoy High School three years before Loop. Pfaff is also the son of former Arizona kicker Doug Pfaff, who kicked a pair of game-winning field goals to beat No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 11 Washington in 1989. The younger Pfaff took Loop under his wing at Arizona.

“I grew up going to church every Sunday, but my life didn’t reflect that. ... Got out here and was hanging out with Blake and he sat me down one day and say, ‘Hey, dude, your life doesn’t reflect this.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ So he started helping me grow and help me understand what following Christ actually looks like,” Loop said. “My sophomore year, I was like, ‘Oh, I get it.’”

Loop’s life “was basically very work-spaced.”

“I wanted people to like me for kicking,” Loop said. “I wanted people to like me for social status or soccer or athletics. ‘If I do all of this, then they’ll like me and I’ll have approval from these people.’ Eventually, I realized that stuff doesn’t matter.”

Then kicking “became fun again” for Loop.

“Now I know why I enjoy kicking,” he said. “I get to have a great relationship with my teammates and serve and love them, be a part of the team. That gave me a lot of freedom on the field.”

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The mindset shift has positioned Loop as one of the top kickers in Arizona football history.

Loop is the only kicker in Arizona history to finish a season with a 100% field-goal rate with a minimum of 10 kicks; he was 12 for 12 in 2021. Loop currently sits 12th in college football history with an 86% field-goal rate, making 49 of 57 attempts in three seasons. If Loop maintains this rate, he’ll finish ahead of Jason Bondzio (83.3%) for the UA career record.

Last season was a career year for Loop, who influenced several games in Arizona’s 10-3 season. He made three field goals and three PATs in Arizona’s 38-24 win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl; his three field goals is tied for a bowl record by a Wildcat. Loop extended his range by making his first-ever 50-yard field goal in Arizona’s 27-24 win over Oregon State. Loop made 2 of 4 field goals from at least 50 yards out.

His most memorable field goal was a 24-yarder in the final seconds to beat Colorado in Boulder, the Wildcats’ first walk-off field goal since Casey Skowron against Washington in 2014.

“We knew starting that drive that it was going to be a field goal,” Loop said.

Former UA running back Jonah Coleman broke out for two big runs before “Fisch walked over and was like, ‘Yeah, we’re winning this game,’” Loop said.

“Colorado fans were getting upset and started chirping at me before I even stepped on the field, because they knew it was coming,” Loop said. “It was so much fun. Everyone on the sideline was like, ‘Yeah, we’re winning this!’ That was a good one to have.”

Nerves? Ice cold. After all, Loop, former punter and holder Kyle Ostendorp and long snapper Seth MacKellar “just had a rhythm.”

“With our operation, we were like, ‘Hey, this is any other day and we’re walking out of here with a win.’ ... It’s just a comfort level. I knew what the snap was going to look like, what the hold was going to look like. Just had a lot of trust with those guys,” Loop said.

Loop was “super fortunate and lucky” to have Ostendorp and MacKellar as the other staples to Arizona’s field goal unit, but “now we got two new guys who are awesome” in Ohio transfer long snapper Justin Holloway and freshman punter Michael Salgado-Medina, who could succeed Loop next season at kicker.

“Dialing up that operation, it’s been fun, especially because Michael is a goofball and a very happy, go-lucky person,” Loop said.

As a fifth-year senior, Loop “is a big-time player,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

“He’s an awesome leader on our team,” Brennan said. “I’ve been really impressed with how he goes about his work and how dedicated he is. I think we can all expect big things from him.”

Another productive season from Loop could launch Loop into the NFL, said Havrisik, who voluntarily coached Loop and the other UA kickers during training camp.

“It’s really the battle between the minds, if you’re talented enough,” Havrisik said. “There’s a bunch of people talented enough to kick in the league. It’s about having the mental discipline and confidence to execute when it’s called. He’s done it well in college so I think he’s given himself a good shot at having a good career in the NFL. He’s done a great job growing up and mastering his craft.”

Between the multiple coaching staff changes and his rise to one of the top kickers in UA football history, Loop described his time at Arizona as “the same dream achieved with a different journey.”

“No one comes to college thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to go through two different coaching staffs, three different head coaches, four different special teams coordinators and all of these people coming in and out of the room,’” Loop said. “No one ever comes to college thinking any of that is going to happen. ... We go through a coaching change, and you’re thinking, ‘What the heck? We had everything and it was supposed to be perfect, we were supposed to go to the national championship this — like, what’s going on?’ Then the whole team stays? You kidding me? You go from up and down, up and down, up and down, like you wouldn’t expect.

“This last year is the most fun I’ve had in college. Friendships, relationships with teammates, coaches loves the players, stuff on the field is going great and I’m feeling great physically, mentally, spiritually. The vibes around here are awesome, and the dream of going to play for a national championship hasn’t wavered at all.”