PREPS: A Q&A with Vista Murrieta's Tyler Rausa


Kurt Ruth has roamed the sidelines at Vista Murrieta long enough to see how kicker Tyler Rausa has handled pressure throughout the Broncos' rise in the CIF Southern Section Inland Division. It certainly made moving Rausa into the larger role on the baseball team ---- as the starting third baseman and clean-up hitter ---- was an easy move for Vista Murrieta's second-year coach.

"We put him into a pressure-packed situation in the cleanup spot because we know that with guys on base, the situation isn't too big for him," Ruth said. "If you can kick a ball through the uprights when the game's on the line, hitting a baseball with the game on the line is the same kind of pressure."

Rausa is certainly thriving as he heads to the University of Nevada, where he'll have a shot to compete for the starting job as a true freshman. His 19 field goals with the football team were tied for the most in the nation and he's hitting .378 with seven RBIs for a baseball team hoping to defend its Southwestern League title.

That grind, of course, will resume next week, leaving Rausa plenty of time to dish with The Californian about a somewhat frustrating recruiting experience as a kicker, flirting with a game-winning kick in the football team's championship game and how he thinks the baseball team (6-6, 3-2 Southwestern League) can get back on track.

Question: You recently decided to walk on at Nevada. How did that come about?

Answer: I had a lot of schools that told me they wanted me to walk on the first year, hopefully earn a scholarship the next year. Nothing promising until talking to the Nevada coach. He said I don't have any money for you, but what you can do is walk on, hopefully beat out there senior kicker, then the next semester earn a full (scholarship). That's what I'm hoping to do.

Q: How draining was this recruiting process?

A: Ugh. ... Especially as a kicker because you have coaches that don't want to spend money on you and a lot of times it's up to us to win the game. All of the sudden they make the wrong decision, a guy misses and they look bad.

Q: Did you expect things to go a little smoother given the stats you put up this year?

A: Yeah, I was expecting to at least get something by the end of the football season. It just kept carrying on. Nobody pulled the trigger.

Q: You have to walk on and then earn your scholarship. How confident are you that things will play out the way you want?

A: I'm not a guy that gets rattled. I'm a guy that I think can go in there, help them out and start.

Q: Speaking of getting rattled, be honest ---- how upset were you when Nick Stevens took the ball in for the game-winning touchdown against Corona Centennial in the championship?

A: (Laughs) I went to Nick and said you just stole my moment. Being Nick Stevens, he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I should have went down." He made the play. Good for him.


