Cal Football: Michael Luckhurst Now Comfortable With His Dad's Legacy
Michael Luckhurst grew up with Cal football all around him. He watched games on TV and the family often traveled up from Santa Barbara to take in the action from Memorial Stadium.
It was all pretty natural, given that Luckhurst’s father, Mick, was a standout two-sport athlete for the Bears, a member of the rugby team and Cal’s placekicker during the 1979 and ’80 football seasons. He's a member of the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame.
Former Cal and NFL placekicker Mick Luckhurst
“It’s just so cool. I came here as a kid and I have pictures on my phone of me being on the field and just looking up,” Luckhurst, who will be Cal’s starting placekicker next fall as a sophomore, says in the video at the top of this story. “Being here now is kind of a dream come true. Every day in practice, just walking through the tunnel . . . I’m here.”
That wasn’t always a sure thing. Luckhurst is proud of his father, who made 24 field goals in two seasons for the Bears then played seven NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.
But Luckhurst wasn’t always certain he wanted to carry the weight of his father’s achievements.
“It was up for grabs for a while. Part of me going into it was thinking I don’t want to just carry on a legacy -- I want to build my own,” he said. “That’s why I kind of poked away from it for a while focused on a couple other schools.
“But when I came on my visit here they made it clear to me that I’m not carrying on anyone’s legacy, that I’m building my own and I’m going to be my own person and create my own legacy here.”
The reality, of course, is that people all the time will mention to Michael the days the watched Mick Luckhurst kick for the Bears. “More often than I thought,” he confirmed.
“Obviously, I’m carrying it on, which is awesome,” he said of that legacy. “It’s great, now that I’m here and everything, carrying it on but also building my own. It’s awesome to have a dad like that.”
Cal coach Justin Wilcox, while fully aware of the father-son dynamic, said the staff’s approach to recruiting Michael wasn’t impacted by that relationship.
“Obviously, his dad was such a great player at that position but we recruited Michael for Michael, and coach him the same as we do everybody else,” Wilcox said. “We try not to take any of that for granted where there are players who have had family members who have played here.
“I get the sense it’s very important to him. He takes a lot of pride in it. It’s meaningful for him to be here, I believe.”
Luckhurst actually was a quarterback and safety in high school until his two older brothers, Adam and Jack, had graduated. Both were kickers before him and Michael didn’t move into that slot until his junior season.
Wilcox said the Bears knew they wanted another Luckhurst on campus, and they were impressed with Michael as more than merely a placekicker
“Even coming out of high school, we felt very strongly about him then. He’s a talented guy,” Wilcox said. “He is a football player. You watch him throw the ball and catch the ball, it’s pretty darned impressive. He’s an athlete, he’s a competitor, he’s got talent. We’re really excited about Michael’s future.”
Luckhurst handled kickoffs as a freshman last season but he attempted just one field goal — a 36-yarder he converted at Oregon State. The Bears penciled him in to be the primary kicker next fall, and he’s only confirmed their faith in him during spring workouts.
Last Saturday, he was 6-for-6 on field-goal attempts during a pre-practice session then made all five of his tries in scrimmage action.
“He’s not going to be perfect all the time, but he’s a talented kid, a competitor, and he’s getting better all the time,” Wilcox said.
Luckhurst made a 50-yard kick in a high school game as a senior and recalls in the video above barely missing on a 60-yarder that was plenty long. In practice that season he made one from 62 yards with his dad looking on.
“My dad helped coach me in high school and he was there,” Luckhurst said. “He was, `Nice. Good one.’ “
Depending on weather conditions, Luckhurst believes the coaching staff would have faith in him trying a field goal up to 55 yards.
Luckhurst said his success so far is a joint effort with junior long snapper Wesley Brown and senior holder Lachlan Wilson, a transfer from Tulsa, who is competing for the punting assignment.
“I’m just finding my rhythm and perfecting my routine. Working with Wes and Lachlan, they’ve been perfect,” he says in the video above. “They’re new guys and we’ve just kind of found our groove with each other. They’ve made my job easy. We’ll just continue to get better.”
Luckhurst stressed that each of the three has an equal role in the equation.
“It’s just the whole unit. It’s not snap, hold, kick. It’s just one operation and once you get it clicking it makes everything so much easier.”
How good Luckhurst becomes remains to be seen. He has the confidence of his coaches and also his father, as he explains in the video below, where he discusses further the challenge of following his dad to Cal.
In any case, Luckhurst said he’s found his home.
“It’s a great legacy. All I focus on is being as good as I can be,” Luckhurst said. “He’s told me I’m better than he was.
"I don’t believe him. He tells me that. I don’t know if it’s just for a confidence boost or for real. We’ll have to see. We’ll see where this all goes.”
Cover photo of Michael Luckhurst by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
