Every day, Rudder senior Will Johnson does his best impression of the Most Interesting Man In The World.

He's the starting safety for the Rangers as well as their place kicker. He's tied for the team lead in interceptions and is third in tackles and scoring.

He wakes up before school to go dove hunting and practices his kicking on the weekends after games. When he finds a spare moment, he plays baseball well enough to be named to the All-Brazos Valley team at designated hitter.

With his energy pulled in so many directions, Johnson has a good handle on his football identity.

"I think of myself as a kicker," Johnson said. "Most people, though, think of the kicker as a [weakling], so I like playing safety, too, so I can go pop them. On kickoffs, [returners] usually think they can beat the kicker, but I'm not going to let them do that. I'll go over and put them down."

Like many kickers, Johnson was drawn to the position because he played soccer as a kid. He still uses a soccer-style form in games. Though he used to wear one football cleat and a kicking shoe during games, he's switched now to wearing kicking shoes on both feet.

Rudder practices kicking every day in one of their special team segments, but Johnson's dedication leads him out to practice his technique after games on the weekends. More and more, high schools are moving away from traditional specialists at the position. Instead, they are playing athletes who can also kick, like Alabama freshman Cade Foster.

"He does a good job," Rudder head coach C.M. Pier said. "He has time to work on his individual skills every day. Now college kickers get to spend all practice just working on that. But Alabama just signed that linebacker from Southlake Carroll as their kicker. You just have to spend a little extra time after practice at it."

Johnson has shown off his leg strength this season. Only one of his kickoffs has failed to reach the end zone and that one missed by 2 yards. Last Friday, Leander Rouse's returners finally started running out of the end zone instead of settling for the touchbacks.

That strength was also apparent in Johnson's endurance through the game. His biggest hurdle to playing both safety and kicker are leg cramps.

"Last game, my legs were really cramping by the end," Johnson said. "I'm tired, and I use my leg a lot in the [kicking] game. Then I go out there and play safety and that's a pretty tough position to play. I'm covering routes the whole time and coming down to fill in the [running lanes]. It's a tough combination."

As a safety, Johnson has 11 tackles and an interception this season. He's also third on the team in scoring with 16 points. He's converted his only field goal attempt, a 30-yarder against Taylor, and has made 13 PAT kicks.

For the past two seasons, Johnson has been one of the most solid parts of the team, according to Pier. With a coach who emphasizes running the ball, defense and field position, having a kicker boom touchback after touchback on kickoffs is crucial.

"We just have to utilize him more," Pier said. "He's also a good punter. We haven't been able to use him as I have envisioned the past couple of seasons. Hopefully, that will change this year."