Let us get this out of the way first, since the two will be linked and compared for as long as punter controversies somehow manage to captivate the public: Jeff Locke is not Chris Kluwe.

The Vikings’ rookie punter, like the one he is replacing, is a UCLA product. Locke graduated with a 3.885 grade-point average in economics; Kluwe turned down Harvard after scoring a 1490 on his SAT. Both men are intellects, but Kluwe is also an iconoclast; where he is interested in fighting City Hall, Locke would seem more likely to advise it on the financial viability of new development. Kluwe takes bold stances on social issues; the most controversial thing Locke said in a Thursday interview was that he thinks the banking industry became over-regulated in the wake of the financial crisis.

But just because Locke isn’t talking as brashly as Kluwe doesn’t mean he’s not thinking just as deeply.

He’s a military brat born in Germany who read the biographies of late Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and Apple founder Steve Jobs. He has 311 connections on LinkedIn. He spent 3-1/2 years working with the National College Players Association, helping the group craft a 33-page study arguing for the deregulation of the NCAA and bigger scholarships for athletes. And he gave three lectures to UCLA teammates on how to manage their finances.

The new Vikings punter, it turns out, is a compelling figure in his own right.

“I like to know how people’s minds behave,” he said, “and what makes people react the way they do.”

In particular, Locke said, he’s interested in how incentives change people’s decisions. In some ways, that’s how his football career began.

A soccer player most of his life, he never had seen a football game until he became the kickoff specialist at his high school in Glendale, Ariz. He played both sports through his first three years of high school, but once he became a senior and college football programs started calling, Locke made a decision: Soccer was out.

“There was a lot of money on the line to be playing soccer still (and risk getting hurt),” he said.

Initially, Locke picked UCLA because of the school’s science department; he planned to major in chemistry or biology until the end of his first semester, when he had to take a chemistry final on a Sunday morning — the day after the UCLA-USC game.

His shift to economics, it turned out, dovetailed nicely with his life in football. Former teammate (and current Titans cornerback) Alterraun Verner introduced Locke to the NCPA, and that opened his eyes to the plight of his teammates, particularly the ones who weren’t as shrewd with their money as Locke.

The study to which Locke contributed is titled “The Price of Poverty in Big-Time College Sport.” It estimates what high-profile college athletes would be worth if the NCAA split revenues evenly with its players, as the NFL does. In that study, the NCPA says the average full-scholarship player on an FBS football team lives below the federal poverty line.

“No other part of society has a cap on an income level,” Locke said. “I think there needs to be some changes in college athletics. There needs to be some adamant discussions — people actually wanting to change it, not just talking.

“Five to 10 years from now, I don’t see how it can’t change. Something’s going to have to happen, whether it’s a split in the NCAA between the big schools and the small schools, or some other major change.”

On campus, Locke went to UCLA’s financial aid department, pulled information about the average cost of living around campus, broke down month-to-month scholarship payments and essentially helped his teammates set up personal budgets.

He set up the program, he said, in a way that when he graduated, future players could update his research and continue to talk to the team.

“(Some guys) really struggled to understand cash flow management,” he said. “That was the toughest thing. They got different amounts (at) different times of the year, and they had to figure out when to put down a security deposit on an apartment. That was way over some guys’ heads.”

Locke is still in touch with the NCPA and is aware this kind of work might make him useful as a representative in the NFL Players’ Association at some point.

For now, though, he’s still adjusting to life outside of college: looking for a place to live in the Twin Cities and working with special teams coordinator Mike Priefer to hone the punting approach that earned Locke All-Pac-12 honors last year.

“I’m just trying to help this team win games,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about any type of off-field stuff, like this NCPA stuff, at this moment. I’m just coming in every day and trying to get better at punting. We’ll see down the road.”

Follow Ben Goessling at twitter.com/BenGoesslingPP.