Matt Peyton has become Arizona's latest triple threat.

On a team of athletes and ironmen, he will be the player the team looks to most often on fourth downs, the man who will push opponents back to their own goal line, and the person who will likely lead the team in scoring.

No, he is not a Deion Sanders fantasy, but he has added the role of place-kicker and kickoff man to his duties as punter.

"I'm confident that I can do all three jobs and do them well," Peyton said. "The forms of kicking are totally different from each other, but I think I've worked hard enough to be successful at all of them."

Peyton's performance at Camp Cochise and through practice this preseason has earned him the starting spots. The punter for the last three seasons, Peyton beat out incumbent kickoff man Mark McDonald for both the place-kicking and kickoff duties. Jon Prasuhn kicked field goals for Arizona last season.

"He's done a great job over the summer preparing for the transition," special teams coach Pete Alamar said. "Initially, the punting duties were going to be his, but we sat down with him and found out he was interested in the kicking positions. We felt that anytime you're going to fill a position, you have to look at all of your options."

Peyton's rise was not a planned one. He has never been overly ambitious when it comes to kicking a football."

"I came in thinking I would be competing for the kickoff spot," Peyton said. "I had no idea I would be trying out as a field goal kicker."

Peyton began his athletic career as a soccer player, who, by his father's wishes, tried out for freshman football at Tucson's Sahuaro High School. Learning to punt and kick field goals alongside future Arizona kicker Steve McLaughlin (who in 1994 won the Lou Groza Award for the nation's best place-kicker), Peyton found that he had a talent for both positions. He was an All-Southern 5A punter his junior season and an All-State 4A and all-league place-kicker in his senior year.

"I came out of high school not knowing whether I would kick field goals or punt," Peyton said. "I had a legitimate shot to do both. I performed well at punting and earned that job."

It was after a redshirt year at Arizona that Peyton earned the starting punting job, a job that in head coach Dick Tomey's "field position offense" was as important as a tailback. Now, five years into his college career and in a newly designed offense, Peyton has become the only man on the team whose foot will touch the ball.

"This hasn't really been a difficult transition for me, because it's something I've been constantly working on," Peyton said. "I've always felt that I could kick field goals."

Peyton has spent several offseasons at youth kicking camps, teaching punting and both forms of kicking. He believes his constant involvement is the reason he has been able to maintain and improve his technique.

"There are really two theories to kicking," Peyton said. "People who think it's hard are constantly working on technique - those who think it's easy go by feel."

Last season Peyton averaged 38.8 yards per net punt, which led the Pacific 10 Conference and was 11th in the nation. His rugby style kick, in which he rolled out of the pocket and kicked with either foot on the run, was one of the keys to the Wildcats' special teams. He says that that kind of pressure and experience has prepared him for what a place-kicker will face.

"I'm used to big-game situations and being forced to perform," Peyton said. "I've been there with the game on the line before."

That seems to have been one of the major factors in Peyton's selection as place-kicker.

"One of the things that helps Matt is that he has game experience as a punter," Alamar said. "He's been out there on the field before. He's a guy that we feel in an open competition ... went out there and won that."

Peyton says of the three positions, he probably enjoys kicking off the most.

"It's then that you can really let loose and pound the ball," Peyton said.

"He's done a great job in practice, and he's going to do a great job in games," Tomey said.

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