AUSTIN (KXAN) — After bouncing around the NFL during his rookie season, former Longhorns kicker Cameron Dicker will start the 2023 season with the team he ended it with.

In a conversation with Phil Dawson that aired April 21 on Longhorn Network, Dicker said the Los Angeles Chargers tendered him as an exclusive rights free agent and he’ll have a chance to earn the full-time kicking job out of fall camp.

Dawson and Dicker, two of Texas’ most prolific kickers, chatted about Dicker’s clutch kicks and what the future could possibly hold for Dicker. And like any true great, Dawson offered the youngster some advice. Dawson came back to Austin last year to take over the football program and become the assistant athletic director at Hyde Park Schools after a 21-year NFL career.

“I never lost that mentality of thinking I was one kick away from it being over,” Dawson told Dicker. “I was living on eggshells my entire career, and it kept me on point. Keep that assassin’s mentality. No matter who is snapping, holding … you’re going to go out there and kick it through the uprights.”

Dicker hit a game-winning field goal in his first game with the Chargers on Nov. 6 in a 20-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons. It was his second game-winning kick of the season after he nailed one for the Philadelphia Eagles the week before. After the Eagles’ kicker under contract Jake Elliott was taken off the injured list, the Eagles cut Dicker and sent him on his way. He latched on with the Chargers and hit 19 of his 20 field goal attempts.

He shared a touching story about his NFL debut game with the Eagles, a Week 5 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. He said his grandmother passed away the week before the game, and while he was grieving, he said it was special he got to play in Arizona because his grandfather still lived there.

“Going and playing there was a cool thing for me,” Dicker said. “There was a light shining on me when I lined up, so it was like she was there with me. What are the odds that the exact yard line where I’d be lining up my steps? I was able to celebrate it with my family.”

Dawson told Dicker those are times that professional kickers “have to give themselves space to enjoy those moments.”

“The misses hurt, and they last a whole lot longer than the makes do,” Dawson said. “If you can learn to enjoy and recognize those moments when they come, that’s needed for a long career.”

Dicker went undrafted out of UT and made preseason rosters with the Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens before landing back in Austin for about six weeks waiting for an NFL team to call.

“Hopefully I’ll stay around there this next year and go compete to be the starter next year,” Dicker said. “Until then, I’m going to make Austin my home base and figure it out.”