2019 City College of San Francisco (CA) P Louis Hedley committed to Miami last night only a week after receiving a Miami offer.
The 6-4 215 pounder is currently unranked right now on any of the recruiting services. His commitment keeps Miami’s 2019 class ranking at #20 on 247Sports and #22 on Rivals.
The Player
Hedley is a JUCO prospect that received his Miami offer last Sunday from special teams coordinator Todd Hartley, who was visiting the punter in California, and Hedley wasted little time, accepting his scholarship on the spot. Hedley waited a week to announce his intentions publicly because he wanted to wait until he was back visiting his home country of Australia to make his choice known. The Canes are the only school to offer Hedley at the moment.
Hedley has a unique backstory and his path to Miami is one that is certainly less travelled. Back in March of 2017, he was a 22 year old construction worker that was kicking with an academy in Melbourne called “ProKick Australia” and playing Australian Rules Football in his spare time. ProKick is an academy that has sent over 60 punters to the college ranks via the JUCO route and soon enough, Hedley was set up in California at City College of San Francisco for the 2017 season.
Hedley showed some of his skills as a freshman in San Francisco in 2017, punting 45 times with an average of 38.6 yards and landing eight punts inside the 20-yard line. On tape, Hedley shows technical skill as a directional punter that can angle punts out of bounds and pin his opponents deep in their own territory with great accuracy. However, his power is still a work in progress, as a 38.6 ypp average is nothing to write home about. In terms of hangtime, Hedley is average at best, as most of his kicks feature a rugby-style, side run-up when kicking that results in a lot of line drives. He does demonstrate the ability to get good hangtime when he is stationary punting in practice, though. In sum, he has a promising leg with potential, but is not a finished product by any means and will have to continue to work on his form to get the most out of his ability.
At 6’4” 215 pounds, Hedley is also an exceptional athlete for a punter and ran three times for 75 yards on fake punts, including a long run of 56 yards. He redshirted in 2018 to retain eligibility at his eventual 4-year college, so he’s been working on his game behind the scenes for the past year.
The Class
Hedley is the 18th commit overall in the 2019 class and the first punter. It’s rare for any program to have two scholarship punters on the roster, let alone take two punters in the same cycle, so with his commitment, it’s safe to say Miami is done at the position in this class.
The Team
Any Miami fan paying attention to the team this season knows UM has struggled mightily in the punting game and in flipping the field for opponents. It’s become such a huge problem that it is now actively costing the team games, as just last week, Duke used a sizable field position advantage to overcome a lack of offensive production and steal a win at HardRock Stadium.
Through that lens, it’s great to see Miami and Hartley at least attempt to fix the issue, not just sit on their hands and hope for improvement from Zach Feagles next season. Feagles has now had the better part of two seasons to prove his worth, but the results just haven’t been there; so far as a sophomore, he’s actually regressed statistically from his poor freshman season (38.6 ypp in 2017 down to 38.1 ypp in 2018).
Hedley will come into the program this summer as a redshirt sophomore to compete with the junior Feagles and the Aussie will likely be considered the favorite to open the 2019 season as Miami’s punter. Hedley will have to make the adjustment to major college ball, and he actually had the exact same punting average in JUCO that Feagles had his freshman season at UM, so this is not a slam dunk by any means. Only time will tell if he’s made improvements in his year off the field. Still, Hedley can’t be much worse than what we’ve been seeing on the field at Miami for the past two seasons and will get every shot to win the job.
The 6-4 215 pounder is currently unranked right now on any of the recruiting services. His commitment keeps Miami’s 2019 class ranking at #20 on 247Sports and #22 on Rivals.
The Player
Hedley is a JUCO prospect that received his Miami offer last Sunday from special teams coordinator Todd Hartley, who was visiting the punter in California, and Hedley wasted little time, accepting his scholarship on the spot. Hedley waited a week to announce his intentions publicly because he wanted to wait until he was back visiting his home country of Australia to make his choice known. The Canes are the only school to offer Hedley at the moment.
Hedley has a unique backstory and his path to Miami is one that is certainly less travelled. Back in March of 2017, he was a 22 year old construction worker that was kicking with an academy in Melbourne called “ProKick Australia” and playing Australian Rules Football in his spare time. ProKick is an academy that has sent over 60 punters to the college ranks via the JUCO route and soon enough, Hedley was set up in California at City College of San Francisco for the 2017 season.
Hedley showed some of his skills as a freshman in San Francisco in 2017, punting 45 times with an average of 38.6 yards and landing eight punts inside the 20-yard line. On tape, Hedley shows technical skill as a directional punter that can angle punts out of bounds and pin his opponents deep in their own territory with great accuracy. However, his power is still a work in progress, as a 38.6 ypp average is nothing to write home about. In terms of hangtime, Hedley is average at best, as most of his kicks feature a rugby-style, side run-up when kicking that results in a lot of line drives. He does demonstrate the ability to get good hangtime when he is stationary punting in practice, though. In sum, he has a promising leg with potential, but is not a finished product by any means and will have to continue to work on his form to get the most out of his ability.
At 6’4” 215 pounds, Hedley is also an exceptional athlete for a punter and ran three times for 75 yards on fake punts, including a long run of 56 yards. He redshirted in 2018 to retain eligibility at his eventual 4-year college, so he’s been working on his game behind the scenes for the past year.
The Class
Hedley is the 18th commit overall in the 2019 class and the first punter. It’s rare for any program to have two scholarship punters on the roster, let alone take two punters in the same cycle, so with his commitment, it’s safe to say Miami is done at the position in this class.
The Team
Any Miami fan paying attention to the team this season knows UM has struggled mightily in the punting game and in flipping the field for opponents. It’s become such a huge problem that it is now actively costing the team games, as just last week, Duke used a sizable field position advantage to overcome a lack of offensive production and steal a win at HardRock Stadium.
Through that lens, it’s great to see Miami and Hartley at least attempt to fix the issue, not just sit on their hands and hope for improvement from Zach Feagles next season. Feagles has now had the better part of two seasons to prove his worth, but the results just haven’t been there; so far as a sophomore, he’s actually regressed statistically from his poor freshman season (38.6 ypp in 2017 down to 38.1 ypp in 2018).
Hedley will come into the program this summer as a redshirt sophomore to compete with the junior Feagles and the Aussie will likely be considered the favorite to open the 2019 season as Miami’s punter. Hedley will have to make the adjustment to major college ball, and he actually had the exact same punting average in JUCO that Feagles had his freshman season at UM, so this is not a slam dunk by any means. Only time will tell if he’s made improvements in his year off the field. Still, Hedley can’t be much worse than what we’ve been seeing on the field at Miami for the past two seasons and will get every shot to win the job.
