The Miami Hurricanes’ special teams, especially the punting game, was subpar to say the least last season. For this reason, the Canes decided they should bring in a punter in the 2019 class. After looking around for a little bit, Miami found Australian punter Louis Hedley from City College of San Francisco. Hedley is fresh off of his official visit to Coral Gables last weekend and gave his thoughts on the trip.
“The official was amazing. You go to a place like Miami and you expect it to be great, but it exceeded my expectations still and it made me pumped. I don’t go there until the summer, but I’m really pumped to go there. I’m really looking forward to getting to work with the coaches and current players. They showed nothing but love. It just gave me another boost of energy to keep working and get out there.”
While in Miami Hedley got a chance to meet some of his future teammates.
“I met Deejay Dallas and Brevin Jordan. I met them two boys and after the years they've had, it was good talking to them. They showed nothing but love to me and all the other recruits.”
One of the biggest reasons that Hedley chose Miami is because of the city and the ocean.
“The city as a whole was great. I went and checked out South Beach. It definitely suits my lifestyle coming from Australia. I live on the coast, on the beach, so being near the beach and being able to go dive and go fishing in my spare time there will be awesome. The fact that it suits my lifestyle and it’s not just football, football, football, and that there's other stuff to do there is huge.”
Hedley’s journey from Australia to his junior college in San Francisco was a hectic one, but it has all worked out for the best.
“I got here fall of 2017. I got here 3 or 4 days before my first game and I had never even watched a game of NFL or college football, so it was really rushed my first year. So I think my first year at Miami I expect myself to come out firing and really compete. I’m really excited.”
In Australia, the main sport is Australian rules football, which is similar to rugby. So how and why exactly did Hedley come to America to become a punter?
“I had always had a really good kick and everyone said I should go over to America and be a punter. I didn’t really know what to do until I found out that there was an academy in Australia called ‘Pro Kick Australia.’ I reached out to them and I had a tryout and they said I had a chance to go higher, go to college football and a chance to make the NFL. I trained with them for three months and they directed me to the junior college that I’m at in San Francisco. I played last year but I redshirted this year because I didn’t want to use a year of eligibility at a junior college. So now I have three years to play at Miami which is good.”
Many Hurricanes fans become big fans of Hedley when he committed and people saw his social media. All of that is fun, but the punting is that part that actually matter.
“Every now and then I hit a 70 yarder, but that’s not every punt of course. In punting, you prefer 45-50 yards with a lot of hang time. For every 10 yards you kick the ball, you want to hang it for a second. The most important thing though is my net average. Next season, my goal is to have a net average over 40.”
Miami’s special teams struggles stretched away from just punting, but Hedley will not be focusing on anything other than his punting at Miami.
“I don’t kick field goals or kickoffs. I think it’s important to just focus on the one. To make it to the next level, you really have to crack down and just focus on the one skill because it’s different muscle groups and what not. I see some college footballers where they kickoff and punt, but I think you waste energy like that. I want to focus on punting and I want to be a good baller.”
Hedley could sign early with Miami this upcoming Wednesday, but he has chosen to wait until the national signing day in February. While this may concern some, Hedley assured fans that he is 100% committed to Miami and nothing could make him want to go anywhere other than Miami. He simply wants to wait until February for his own reasons. Hedley would not be able to enrollee for the spring even if he did sign early. Finally, the Australian phenom gave a message to all the Canes fans.
“Thanks for showing me so much love. Like I said before, I just can't wait to get back and meet a heap of them and get back to the Miami community down there.”
“The official was amazing. You go to a place like Miami and you expect it to be great, but it exceeded my expectations still and it made me pumped. I don’t go there until the summer, but I’m really pumped to go there. I’m really looking forward to getting to work with the coaches and current players. They showed nothing but love. It just gave me another boost of energy to keep working and get out there.”
While in Miami Hedley got a chance to meet some of his future teammates.
“I met Deejay Dallas and Brevin Jordan. I met them two boys and after the years they've had, it was good talking to them. They showed nothing but love to me and all the other recruits.”
One of the biggest reasons that Hedley chose Miami is because of the city and the ocean.
“The city as a whole was great. I went and checked out South Beach. It definitely suits my lifestyle coming from Australia. I live on the coast, on the beach, so being near the beach and being able to go dive and go fishing in my spare time there will be awesome. The fact that it suits my lifestyle and it’s not just football, football, football, and that there's other stuff to do there is huge.”
Hedley’s journey from Australia to his junior college in San Francisco was a hectic one, but it has all worked out for the best.
“I got here fall of 2017. I got here 3 or 4 days before my first game and I had never even watched a game of NFL or college football, so it was really rushed my first year. So I think my first year at Miami I expect myself to come out firing and really compete. I’m really excited.”
In Australia, the main sport is Australian rules football, which is similar to rugby. So how and why exactly did Hedley come to America to become a punter?
“I had always had a really good kick and everyone said I should go over to America and be a punter. I didn’t really know what to do until I found out that there was an academy in Australia called ‘Pro Kick Australia.’ I reached out to them and I had a tryout and they said I had a chance to go higher, go to college football and a chance to make the NFL. I trained with them for three months and they directed me to the junior college that I’m at in San Francisco. I played last year but I redshirted this year because I didn’t want to use a year of eligibility at a junior college. So now I have three years to play at Miami which is good.”
Many Hurricanes fans become big fans of Hedley when he committed and people saw his social media. All of that is fun, but the punting is that part that actually matter.
“Every now and then I hit a 70 yarder, but that’s not every punt of course. In punting, you prefer 45-50 yards with a lot of hang time. For every 10 yards you kick the ball, you want to hang it for a second. The most important thing though is my net average. Next season, my goal is to have a net average over 40.”
Miami’s special teams struggles stretched away from just punting, but Hedley will not be focusing on anything other than his punting at Miami.
“I don’t kick field goals or kickoffs. I think it’s important to just focus on the one. To make it to the next level, you really have to crack down and just focus on the one skill because it’s different muscle groups and what not. I see some college footballers where they kickoff and punt, but I think you waste energy like that. I want to focus on punting and I want to be a good baller.”
Hedley could sign early with Miami this upcoming Wednesday, but he has chosen to wait until the national signing day in February. While this may concern some, Hedley assured fans that he is 100% committed to Miami and nothing could make him want to go anywhere other than Miami. He simply wants to wait until February for his own reasons. Hedley would not be able to enrollee for the spring even if he did sign early. Finally, the Australian phenom gave a message to all the Canes fans.
“Thanks for showing me so much love. Like I said before, I just can't wait to get back and meet a heap of them and get back to the Miami community down there.”
