Martin Connington doesn’t need much help imagining what it will feel like to kick at Wembley Stadium. The Kansas kicker has been to England several times, most recently last summer, and the trip KU is making for the Union Jack Classic on Sept. 19 against Arizona State already carries a personal charge for him.
That connection runs through his family. Connington’s father was born in England, and much of that side of the family still lives there in York. He said the game in London will give him a chance to do something they usually can’t: watch him play in person.
“I have an entire half of family in England as well because my dad was born there, and I’m really excited to finally be able to play in front of them because they don’t really get to come over here,” Connington said. “A lot of them are older and it can make it difficult. But my uncle, who’s from Mexico, will be able to go there too, which should be really exciting.”
For Connington, though, this isn’t only about family. He’s also an Arsenal fan, and the chance to line up at Wembley has long been on his wish list.
“I can’t even talk about my emotions on how excited I am to get over there,” he said.
That excitement fits the unusual path that brought him to Kansas. Connington grew up in Idaho and emerged as one of the top kickers in the 2024 recruiting class. He started at Michigan State, redshirted as a freshman, then went 12-for-16 on field goals and 27-for-28 on extra points in 2025.
Kansas special teams coordinator Taiwo Onatolu pointed to Connington’s strong leg, his experience kicking in bad weather and the years of eligibility he still has when explaining why the Jayhawks wanted him in the transfer portal. Long snapper Rino Monteforte has seen the same thing up close.
“Martin is a very clean ball-striker, and he does a really nice job of going in there when it matters and handling those pressure kicks that you need to accomplish,” Monteforte said. “And he is really smart about his technique. He just does a truly great job.”
Since arriving in the winter, Connington has worked with KU assistant special teams, kickers & punters coach Kyle Deween on the fine points of his motion. He said the emphasis has been on staying on his line and keeping his approach compact rather than trying to do too much.
“I’ve been just trying to do a better job of staying on my line,” Connington said. “It can be easy to overswing and kind of try to attack it because you want to be confident.
You don’t want to kind of like half-go into a kick. But it’s been good trying to just really be short and concise with my first step, so I make sure I’m going right to where I want to go, and just kick it through.”
Kansas has also forced a different kind of adjustment. The wind in the region has made “hitting a clean ball” more important, and even the tornado sirens were a surprise when he first got there.
“It’s a whole new environment,” he said. “But I don’t think it was much of a change because the process is still the same.”
That process will get a little more real soon, with preseason chances to kick inside David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium instead of only on the practice fields. Lance Leipold has said KU expects to practice in the stadium on Saturday, and Connington likes the feel of that setting.
“I find it a lot easier to kick in stadiums, just because you have a lot of different aiming points you can actually go at,” Connington said. “Obviously in high school you kind of get used to nothing, where you’re like, ‘I’m going to pick a cloud. I don’t know what I’m going to kind of go at.’
“But in college it can be easier and more difficult in its own way. I think it’s very important that you kind of visualize that. We talk about that in our specialist meetings as well, how (to) just get to a quiet space and envision the stadium we’re going to go to.”
And when Kansas gets to Wembley, Connington won’t be the only specialist with English roots. Australian punter Matthew Gill’s father is also English, and backup punter Ben Shipley’s parents are as well. Connington said that gives the group a special connection to the setting.
“We have a big specialist crew of English blood in us, which is super exciting, and we’re all ecstatic,” Connington said.
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