Swagger and a strong leg: What Clemson football is getting in freshman kicker Nolan Hauser
CLEMSON – It wasn’t the ideal circumstance for Nolan Hauser to make the longest field goal of his career.
His team, Hough, was leading 13-7 in the third quarter and needed a 53-yard field goal against its conference rival, Chambers. Missing the starting long snapper and facing around 9-mph winds, Huskies coach DeShawn Baker told Hauser, who missed a field goal before halftime, to attempt another.
“He’s been (kicking for) so long,” Baker said. We tell him, ‘Hey man. This ain’t nothing new to you. Go out there and knock it down. There ain’t no pressure. You made these kicks a thousand times.’”
The snap came low, but the holder retrieved the ball. Hauser kicked the ball left to compensate for the wind blowing right and took a hit from Cougars defenders as the ball cleared the crossbar to make the score 16-7.
“He’s always been a gamer,” his father, Scott Hauser, said. “He has always been big in in-game situations.”
This is the player Clemson football is getting in the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Hauser, a three-star prospect from Cornelius, North Carolina, who holds the national high school record for career field goals made (66).
In spring and summer practices, Hauser will compete with Robert Gunn III for starting place-kicking duties.
"The one thing about kicking, there's no subjectivity to it," Swinney said. "Those two guys will battle it out, and we'll see what happens."
Nolan Hauser brings confidence and swagger
One thing that will stand out about Hauser is his confidence. He is a humble person but carries a special conviction when he’s on the field.
Baker discussed kickers with North Carolina coach Mack Brown earlier this year. Brown shared how Justin Tucker, the Baltimore Ravens kicker who played for Brown at Texas, was confident he could kick the ball and know it was going through the uprights on nearly every attempt coming out of high school. Baker says he feels the same way about Hauser.
“He just has a different type of swag, man,” Baker said. “He has confidence out of the world.”
Hauser is the latest member of his family to attend Clemson. His mother, Sheri Bueter Hauser, played soccer for Clemson and was inducted to the Clemson Athletics Hall of Fame. Scott Hauser was a pitcher for the Tigers, and Hauser’s sister, Ella, plays soccer at Clemson.
Growing up, Hauser wasn’t just a place-kicker. He played quarterback, running back, wide receiver and safety for his Pop Warner team and participated in other sports, like baseball and soccer. He ran the third leg for the 4x100 relay team at Hough and was talented enough to be the football team’s second or third wideout.
Occasionally during practices and seven-on-seven drills at Hough Hauser would sneak on the field to play scout-team receiver before getting kicked off the field.
Despite being a kicker, Hauser was a part of everything the Huskies did. He was a vocal leader, motivating his teammates throughout games. When the team had to do sprints and punishment runs, he would run with the group.
“He didn't grow up a kicker,” Sheri Hauser said. “He was always an athlete, and he just fell in love with kicking.”
Nolan Hauser's drive to be the best
Hauser started kicking when he was 11 and further developed his skills when he started working with kicking coach Dan Orner two years later. Orner has coached a lineage of past Clemson kickers and punters, like Chandler Catanazaro, Bradley Pinion and B.T. Potter.
Orner says Hauser told him he wanted to be the best, and for nearly six years, he has sent his coach film of his technique that they worked on five days a week.
When his family took trips, Hauser would find parks so he could practice kicking. If he couldn’t locate one, he would practice his routine in the hotel room.
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“No matter where we went – if we were air travel – we carried a football and a pump,” Scott Hauser said. “He carried his cleats, and he kicked everywhere we went.”
One of the biggest adjustments for a kicker entering college is the shorter operation time – going from 1.4 seconds to 1.25. Hauser has trained since ninth grade to kick in the preferred time.
As he got older, Hauser picked Orner's mind on how to improve in pressure situations, his ball contact, extension, distance kicking and reducing injury.
“He’s going to thrive in these environments,” Orner said. “He’s looking forward to the whole team getting around him. He’s looking forward to getting a chance to kick a game-winner.”
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: Freshman kicker Nolan Hauser has swagger, strong leg
