Lones Seiber hears your boos.

UK’s senior kicker has heard them with every missed field goal and botched extra point. Even Seiber admits that he has been disappointed in his career up to now.

“It just hasn’t gone my way,” he said, shaking his head.

His problems on the football field are just the beginning of what has made Lones Seiber the man he is today. From finding out he was a father after his freshman year in college to a childhood spent traveling the world with the Air Force, there’s been enough change in his life already. Enough change to make him think his career won’t be remembered for the boos.

Now, just nine points away from becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer, Seiber doesn’t want to be remembered for inconsistency. But when he does miss his first field goal at Commonwealth Stadium this year, the boos, warranted or not, will come back.

“I hear them, but really, it doesn’t faze me,” Seiber said. “I could care less what they think. I’m out there to do a job. If I miss, they have the right to boo and stuff, but I try not to let that faze me.

“It’s just stupidity when they boo, because I want to see one person out of the stands try to do what I just did. That’s how I feel about it.”

‘IT WAS DEVASTATING’

Seiber’s UK career was difficult from the beginning. He suffered through a lingering hip injury and finished his freshman year 11-for-19 on field goals. The fans in Commonwealth were already making life difficult enough for him. That was before he heard the news that rocked his already turbulent life.

Being a freshman kicker, the loneliest position on any football team, is one thing. Finding out about an unknown son was more.

In May 2007, Seiber found out he had a son who had already been born and was living in Knoxville, Tenn. His first reaction to the news was hardly something he would be proud of now.

“It was devastating,” Seiber said. “I didn’t want to have any problems or anything holding me back from what I was trying to do — coming here, starting a new life and becoming UK’s kicker.”

Seiber feels differently about his son today. Jaden, now two years old, lives with his mother in Knoxville. Jaden comes to most of Seiber’s football games and visits his father whenever possible. Seiber sees him every other weekend in the summer but still wishes he could be with his son more.

Seiber is still with his son’s mother – “I don’t want to have any baby-mama-drama,” he said with a laugh – but is taking things slow until graduation. For now, he’s focused on football and finishing up his last year at UK.

After reconciling with his role as a father, Seiber took a new outlook on life. He thinks of Jaden every day and has a tattoo devoted to his son on his chest.

“He’s my motivation. He’s my strength,” Seiber said. “When I don’t want to get up in the morning, I look at him and it’s like, ‘If you want to make something for your son, you better get up and do something with your life.’ ”

MARCHING ORDERS

Ask him to list all the places he has lived and Seiber will take a deep breath and look off into the distance, almost like he can see his next stop just over the horizon in a lifetime already full of changes.

“Born in Japan, moved to California, then Nebraska, then Panama, back to California, then to Hawaii, Texas – I lived in three different places in Texas – then to Japan, back to Texas, Germany, Tennessee, and then here,” he said, taking a breath to catch up when he finishes.

Seiber comes from a military family; his father is in the Air Force. Growing up, he never lived in the same place for more than two years. Wherever his father’s marching orders told him to go, Seiber went too. He never had a choice.

It’s a lifestyle few people can understand. Military spouses and children are just that — as much a part of the military as their partner or father. It’s something the rest of the family becomes accustomed to but is never truly comfortable with. Such was the case with Seiber.

For all the controversy surrounding Seiber, his life as a military son might have affected him the most. It’s the one thing he’ll continue to speak about, even when the conversation has drifted elsewhere. He’s putting together an application now to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the Air Force after graduation.

His time in Lexington is the longest Seiber has resided in one place, and now he finally considers it home.

“It was good because I didn’t have to focus on change,” Seiber said. “It was just a matter of going to school and becoming a better kicker. I really enjoyed being in one place for four years because it helped me maintain my stability of who I am and everything else around me.”

Seiber received offers to play at Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State even though he only began kicking his junior year of high school, but they both planned to redshirt him. He had no desire to sit a season out, so he came to UK. He immediately took on the placekicking duties as a true freshman.

‘IF YOU MISS THIS, YOU’RE SCREWED’

Kickers are traditionally looked down on by teammates. The archetypal kicker isn’t viewed as a real member of a football team by the true athletes, and he doesn’t dare mingle with teammates.

They spend most of their time in practice isolated from the rest of the team, and aren’t to be heard from unless called upon for a big kick. Then, of course, they’re expected to do their one job and split the uprights.

When Seiber comes out to make a kick, special teams coach Steve Ortmayer grabs him and gives him some words of wisdom, but there’s not much he can say to help at that point.

If he makes the kick, he and his holder might embrace or high-five. If it’s a big enough kick, his teammates might mob him.

Miss it, and he hangs his head and jogs to the sideline. He’ll probably go and practice kicking into the net by himself again, away from his teammates.

“Kickers kind of march to the beat of their own drum,” senior left tackle Zipp Duncan said.

Standing 5-foot-9 and with a background in soccer, it’s easy to peg Seiber as another stereotypical kicker. But ask anyone around him and they’ll disagree.

“I am exactly the opposite,” he said with a smile, happy to break the mold. His best friends on the team include Duncan, senior defensive tackle Corey Peters and senior linebacker Jacob Dufrene.

Seiber’s sophomore and junior years would wind up looking similar to his freshman campaign, save for a few spectacular moments. He kept kicking through the boos – and a pain in his hip that had bothered him since high school.

“The doctors in Knoxville just thought it was a hip pointer or something, but I knew it was something more,” Seiber said. “Then when I got here, I tried to kick one day and I just couldn’t do it.”

He was diagnosed with a torn labrum. Every time he kicks, he feels a pinching pain in his hip. He says he’s healthy now, but the injury has flared up throughout his career.

Seiber’s inconsistency has certainly been noticed by his teammates. But for all his errors, one of the greatest moments in UK football history likely wouldn’t have happened without him. On Oct. 13, 2007, Seiber went 3-for-3 on field goals against eventual national champion Louisiana State.

Two of his field goals – one in the fourth quarter that forced overtime and another in the second overtime to force the third extra period – tied the game. The latter, a 43-yarder, was particularly impressive and pressure-packed.

“This is exactly what I said to myself,” Seiber said. “I looked up at the scoreboard and then it hit me, just how big this kick was. This kick was to win, not to tie. If I missed, we lost. I told myself ‘If you miss this, you’re screwed.’ I just went up there and nailed it. I was pretty stoked about that.”

Seiber was eventually benched last season after going 2-for-6 on field goals in a one-point victory over Middle Tennessee State. Freshman Ryan Tydlacka handled field goal duties for the next four games, but he missed three of his last four field goals and Seiber was given the job again.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the boos to come back. There are far too many instances when Seiber trotted off the field with his head down after missing a kick for him to be comfortable with where he stands now.

“Some people look at it as a positive career, some people look at it as a negative career,” he said. “That’s just what happens with people. They have their opinions. Personally, what happened with the last three years is in the past. I’m ready to build on that this year.”

‘SMOOTH RIDE’

After three up-and-down years at UK and a lifetime of changes, Lones Seiber is ready for the boos. He’s been through enough controversy to be ready for whatever is next, on or off the field.

“Being a military child, you have to learn to cope with change and cope with criticism and you cope with obstacles that you’re not accustomed to and they’re thrown at you every day,” Seiber said.

“That really prepared me coming to college, knowing that not everything is going to go your way, not everything is easy for you and you have to work for everything you have. You know, ultimately, it’ll pay off and that’s what I’m hoping for. That those three years of obstacles will ultimately make this senior year not a roller coaster …”

He trails off, searching for the right words, almost like he can’t expect things to go his way anymore. Someone suggests he wants his final season to be a smooth ride. He nods.

“Yeah,” he says. “That’s it. A smooth ride.”