He felt relief that he hadn’t made a fool of himself on national TV when given a second chance at the 33-yard kick. He felt overwhelmed in the moment, like he was “out of my own skin.” He even felt terror, wondering about the implications of this newfound fortune.

Above all, he was filled with gratitude, for the improbable opportunity to make a field goal for $3 million — $2 million for himself and $1 million for charity — live on ESPN College GameDay on campus prior to BYU’s football showdown against Notre Dame.

“I felt like it was just meant to be because of so many little things that led up to it, but overall, if I could just kind of wrap it up in one word, I would have to just say I felt grateful and especially grateful for the opportunities that this would give me,” Smith told the Daily Herald in a phone interview.

The stakes were raised on the usual $1 million GameDay challenge hosted by ESPN personality and former NFL kicker Pat McAfee, when Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith and his business partner, Ryan Sweeney, agreed to add $1 million each to the pot. 

The money went to a kid who, a week prior, didn’t know what College GameDay was, let alone who McAfee and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit were. He called them “the big important guys.”

Carter Smith, a 21-year-old Iowa native who played soccer in high school but had never kicked a football, recently returned from a mission in Argentina and is in his first semester at BYU. He agreed to camp out for the GameDay experience with his friend, Andrew. 

That’s when the most unbelievable moment of his life started to unfold.

Taking the kicks

A few things stand out to Smith that led up to the iconic moment. The first is that his friend bought three Spider-Man costumes of different sizes for Halloween to try on. Smith asked to put one on, and they decided to go to GameDay wearing them. 

“Had I not been wearing a Spider-Man costume, as cheesy and as funny as it sounds, it wouldn’t have been as cool,” he said. 

The second thing was the night before the game, when Smith was standing in line to enter “The Pit,” the area where you needed to be to enter the raffle for the kick contest. A guy offered him $400 for his spot in line. He nearly took it.  

“The only reason I didn’t is because the guy next to me took it,” he said. “Had I taken that offer, I would probably be pretty happy right now, 400 bucks richer. But instead, I didn’t and it worked out the way that it did.” 

Smith wasn’t even the first one chosen to take the kick. That distinction went to a student who did not have his ID on him and was deemed ineligible. Smith was selected in his place. 

There he was, at 9 a.m., standing on the artificial turf in his full Spider-Man costume, getting interviewed by McAfee and surrounded by fans. When the money total suddenly was raised, Smith’s nerves went up. Wearing bulky running shoes, which he had borrowed from someone in the crowd because he only had Birkenstocks, he took his first attempt and missed wide to the right. 

He thought his luck had run out. 

“My first reaction was, ‘Well, that’s kind of what I expected.’ I didn’t think I was going to get it,'” Smith said. “I wasn’t looking for any pity points. I didn’t know it was common for them to give people more opportunities, or even give them cash, even though they missed it.” 

However, McAfee, prodded by the crowd, offered him a second chance, with the same dollar figure. This time, Smith felt more relaxed about his approach.

He listened to Herbstreit’s advice on how to adjust to the miss, took off the running shoes and focused on his mindset.

“I think I did have a little bit more faith,” Smith said. “You kind of have to picture yourself succeeding, and that’s scientifically supposed to help you. You will do better if you picture yourself succeeding, and so I did have that hope.” 

The kick was true. 

“I beat the odds, bro,” he said. 

Sudden fame and fortune

The initial 24 hours that followed were a whirlwind for Smith. 

After he made the kick, he was approached by a woman wearing a headset, who hurriedly handed him a piece of paper, told him to notarize it, send back an email and that he’d hear from her later. 

“That is all I knew,” he said. “I didn’t have any of the big guys’ emails or their numbers or anything like that. And she gave me that paper, and she said, ‘You have seven days.’ If I don’t do it in seven days, I get $0. So they put that pressure on you. I’ve already taken care of all that, though. So now it’s just a waiting game.”

His social media accounts were immediately flooded with DMs. Some contained positive feedback from BYU fans giving him advice. There were random people messaging him asking for money to help pay for their tuition. 

“It’s like what on earth? Am I really getting these DMs?” Smith said. 

There were also women he had spoken to in the past that had stopped messaging him but suddenly reached out.

“I’m not even kidding,” he said. “It’s probably every girl within the semester that I’ve talked to who has sent me a text. 

“And it’s like, are you serious? Like, are we for real right now?”

Going to the football game Saturday night was intense. Smith couldn’t go far without being asked to take a picture and denied being the person people thought he was a few times so he could get to his seat.

On Monday, though, things were back to normal and he walked around campus unbothered. Not wearing the Spider-Man outfit probably helped. 

“I might catch a couple glances here and there where people are like, ‘Is that who I think it is? But for the most part, people don’t notice me,” he said. 

His attention now turns to what he’s going to do with the money when it hits his account. Smith said he is fortunate enough not to have any immediate financial needs, and that the money will be invested. 

“Whether that’s investing in stocks, or obviously with a 401k, you kind of do that through your work, and I’m not working right now,” he said. “Or if it’s a rental property, I’m not positive yet. I wanted to do a whole bunch of research before I made the decision, and I have a feeling that’s going to be quite a ways down the road, just with taxes and kind of that process.” 

A few days after winning the money, Smith said the reality of what he did is finally settling in. Whatever he spends it on, undergraduate millionaire says he will be responsible with his newfound wealth. 

“Be wise,” he said, referencing the Book of Mormon. “What more can I say?”