By Mick McGrane, GoAztecs.com Senior Writer
(@MickOnTheMesa)
As he scanned the frostbitten field of Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium in the late afternoon of Dec. 3, 2016, one thing was certain:
Whoever suggested John Baron II surrender soccer for Division I college football had some explaining to do.
The previous night had brought snow, piles of snow, enough snow that before the Mountain West championship could be staged between SDSU and the host Cowboys, lawn tractors affixed with plows would be required to shove it aside.
When kickoff came at 5:45 Mountain Time, it was 18 degrees. John Baron II had once been a soccer standout at Chaparral High in Temecula, where the average December temperature is roughly 70.
"It was freezing," Baron recalled. "I was numb."
Baron, SDSU's fifth-year senior kicker, had delivered a 37-yarder to tie the game at 10-10 with 9:39 left in the second quarter.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the game, he was called upon again after an Aztecs drive stalled at the Wyoming 3-yard line. It would be an attempt of 20 yards. If Baron had been numbed by the cold, he was about to become numb with fear.
"You couldn't really see them, but all around the field there were these chunks of ice in the turf," Baron said. "I had gone out onto the field to find the spot before we lined up for (the kick) and there were only about 10 seconds left on the play clock. I looked down and there was this huge chunk of ice right where I was going to put my plant foot. Tanner (former Aztecs punter and holder Blain) was hitting it with his fist trying to break it and I was trying to break it with my foot. But because there was such little time, we couldn't break it. I remember lining up to kick and I didn't even have my steps down right. I just kind of walked back a little bit and then the wind picked up. It was a pretty short field goal, but it was like nothing was going my way. The whole time all I was thinking was, 'Dude, don't miss it.' It was so scary it was insane. Thank God, I didn't slip."
Baron, whose slips have been few and far between, delivered. The field goal gave SDSU a 27-17 lead and proved to be the difference when Wyoming's C.J. Johnson caught a 43-yard touchdown pass less than a minute later.
When Baron takes the field for Saturday night's home opener against Sacramento State, he will do so as the nation's leader in field-goal percentage (.872) among active FBS kickers. A candidate for the Lou Groza Award for the second straight season (an honor annually bestowed on the nation's top kicker), he is also an All-America candidate. No kicker at SDSU has made more field goals in a season (21) or come close to eclipsing his single-season field-goal percentage record of .913, marks both set in 2016.
John Sullivan, who currently serves as Associate Commissioner, Championships for the Mountain West, was named a consensus All-American kicker in 2007 when current Aztecs head coach Rocky Long was in his 10th season as head coach of the Lobos. Sullivan is duly impressed with Baron, who could conclude his career with the best field-goal percentage in SDSU history. That mark belongs to Chris O'Brien, who posted an average of .875 in 1984-85.
"He's good; he's really good," Sullivan said of Baron. "I've seen him make a lot of clutch kicks. He really strikes (the ball). When he kicks it, it's hit well and it's very accurate. I think he's definitely one of the best kickers out there, for sure.
"One word that I use to describe him when I look at his kicking style is smooth. Everything is just smooth when you watch him. When you look at him and compare him with other kickers, everything just clicks. It's really effortless. A lot of other kickers are grinding at the ball or being aggressive, but that's not the way with John. He's really been pretty incredible."
Perhaps no more incredible than in a 40-13 Aztecs win at Utah State in late October of 2016. Despite a relentless driving rain, Baron became just the second kicker in SDSU history to go 4-for-4 on field goals in a game, connecting on attempts of 21, 41, 43 and 23 yards. His 16 total points tied a school record for a kicker.
"I think every player has a sense of confidence in themselves, and everyone wants to think that they're the best at their position, especially at the Division I level where it's so competitive," Baron said. "In my case, it's awesome to know that I'm competing against the best kickers in the country and that I'm holding my own against them.
"But you also have to take a lot of it with a grain of salt. It's nice to hear someone talk you up and say all of these nice things about you, but there's always going to be the other side of the coin where people are saying, 'This kid doesn't have what it takes, he's not very good, he's never been on a big stage.' You've got to be able to see through it and know that you have a job to do."
Nonetheless, those in the know have taken notice. He was a semifinalist for the Groza Award in 2016, the first semifinalist for the award among Aztec kickers in the previous 13 years. That he currently leads the nation in field-goal percentage among active FBS kickers is merely another chapter in a career that in 2016 saw him finish the season by making 19 straight field goals from 50 yards or less.
"I'm a finance (major), so I'm a big numbers guy, and I really like statistics, too," Baron said. "My position as a kicker is all about statistics, so when you look at it like that, I think it shows just how much work I've put in, the little things that go on behind the scenes. Being accurate is all that a kicker really has. Our job is to make kicks, so when I see that I've been nominated for (the Groza Award), I'm really proud of it. It's a huge honor to be able to have your name associated with something like that.
"But at same time, it's only the beginning of the season, and who knows what's going to happen from here? It's cool to think about, but I also have to be able to keep it up."
Particularly if he's to attract the eyes of pro scouts. In the past decade, a total of just 18 kickers have been selected in the NFL draft, the latest being Auburn's Daniel Carlson and New Mexico's Jason Sanders in 2018. Baron's field-goal percentage of .800 last season was markedly better than that of both Carlson (.742) and Sanders (.667). Carlson was a fifth-round pick while Sanders was taken in the seventh round.
"It's definitely something that I dream about," Baron said. "Every day when I go out to practice I try to train like a pro would train. If you want to be a pro, then you have to train like a pro. I feel like I have a chance, but at the same time, so do a lot of other kickers. There are a lot of great kickers who come out of college who don't get drafted and end up killing it as an undrafted free agent. I try not to get caught up in it too much, but if that's where God wants me, it will all work out. I'm anxious to see where life takes me."
In the interim, he'll continue plying what has become a most successful trade, one that also now includes mentoring his heir apparent, current freshman Matt Araiza.
"I really have a lot of faith in (Araiza)," Baron said. "He's going to be a great kicker. He's got a cannon for a leg and he's pretty accurate with his field goals. It's hard moving from high school uprights to college uprights, but he's learning all the time.
"He's also traveling with the team, which was the same thing that happened with me when (former Aztecs kicker) Donny (Hageman) was here. I've told him that (traveling) isn't like a field trip, it's a business trip. I want him to see how we treat the whole process, how we conduct ourselves on the plane flight, what we do (on the road) during our walk-through, the whole thing. I want him to watch how we treat it so that when he's playing next year, he'll already know how to treat it himself. He's listening and he really wants to get better. I'm just trying to help him out as much as I can, because I know he has the potential to be really good."
To match the accomplishments of John Baron II, he better be.