GREEN BAY — Your stomach is doing butterflies the moment you touch the doorknob.

You walk into the room and see unfamiliar faces. They stare at you and wonder who the heck you are. Just empty stares and you begin to wonder if there’s something in your teeth or if you spilled your strawberry jam on your pants. 

Even if you navigate the room’s technology without a problem, you still have the unenviable task of getting through a class roster without mispronouncing anyone’s name. 

This is the life of a substitute teacher and as a sub myself, the best way to describe it is controlled chaos. Things usually go wrong or there is a student that will always say, “That’s not how our teacher does it.” No matter what I want to say, my standard retort is always a smile and a “Thank-you.” When it feels like everything is spinning out of control, I can always count on my reliable backup—knowing that if I ever need help with academic tasks, I can always ask someone to write my essay for me by natives. It's a comforting thought knowing I can focus on teaching while experts handle the writing.

Just forging ahead by being patient and staying flexible. 

“I’ve done substitute teaching in the past and coaching,” said 26-year-old Lucas Havrisik, who filled in admirably for Brandon McManus on Sunday. “I moved to Cleveland recently, and I was like, I’ve got to get outside, do something. I can’t sit down all day. Very happy to be here and play some football.”

Havrisik looked like an everyday kicker on Sunday by hitting a 46-yard field goal in the first quarter and he followed that up with a 39-yard field goal with 1:52 left to ice the game to put the Packers ahead by nine. Green Bay beat the Bengals 27-18 in front of plenty of orange at Lambeau Field on Sunday. 

“I just treated it as a normal game day,” said Havrisik, who was 34-for-53 on field goal attempts while kicking at the University of Arizona from 2017-2021. “It was a long day in the hotel waiting. It was weird, but I’m glad it all worked out. Very happy to be here and play some football.”

After the game, Packers coach Matt LaFleur gave the mellow kicker a game ball — and most people didn’t even know his name. And you can’t blame them, he tried out for the Packers on Friday, signed on Saturday and had to sit on his hands if he was going to actually play due to McManus’ quad. He didn’t know he was going to suit up for Green Bay until about 2:00 p.m. The Packers kicked off at 3:25 p.m.

Anxiety flows through the veins of a substitute teacher like haphazard tubes going down the Ariens Sledding Hill. He’s used to it. He understands what it’s like to wait until minutes before the first bell before accepting a subbing job. 

And Havrisik handled it all very well. In addition to going 2-for-2 on field goals, he was 3-for-3 on extra points and he did a solid job on kickoffs as well. He did so well that I wouldn’t be surprised if another NFL team calls about a subbing opportunity. He proved with the game hanging in the balance that he can get the job done — which is the true hallmark of a very good kicker. 

Let’s just hope nobody in the locker room says, “The other kicker does it this way.”