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With ‘surreal’ journey near its end, Miami’s Lou Hedley was more than just a viral star

Before he ever even took the field for the Miami Hurricanes, Lou Hedley was already something of a sensation. On the day he signed his national letter of intent with Miami back in 2019, Hedley tweeted out a picture of himself throwing up the U and every detail about the punter captured the imagination of college football fans around the country.

He was 25 and Australian. He was ripped — and not just ripped for a punter — and absolutely covered in tattoos. Hedley soon decided he wanted to wear No. 94, because it’s the number Dwayne Johnson wore while he was a Hurricane, and his background as a construction worker made his unlikely path to Miami a true feel-good story.

Somehow, he exceeded all the hype. Hedley will play his final home game as a Hurricane on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Panthers and he’ll leave Miami as one of the best specialists in program history. He’s a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award for the third time in three years this season and has a chance to be a finalist for the second time. Throw in a nod as a second-team All-American back in 2020 and it makes him one of the most accomplished Hurricanes of the last few years.

“It’s definitely surreal,” said Hedley, now 29 and about to finish his sixth year of college football. “The journey from Australia, coming over here, has been a super long one.”

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As a refresher, here’s how it started: Hedley was a semi-professional Australian rules football player back home, spending some time with the reserve team for the Peel Thunder Football Club in the sport’s third division, and also worked as a scaffolder taking jobs at random locales in the Australian desert; he did this for about eight years before a former teammate suggested he link up with Prokick Australia to try out American football and it first took him to a junior college; after two years at the City College of San Francisco, the Hurricanes brought him in to solve their punting woes and he did.

Now, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound punter is about as Miami as it gets. He’s one of only five current seniors to spend at least four years with the program and he decided to keep coming back year after year, even when he would’ve had a chance to play in the NFL.

“I definitely wanted three years. That was the plan coming to Miami,” Hedley said. “I wanted to go through the three years, get a degree.”

The plan changed, however, when an injury last year required offseason surgery on his kicking leg. Three years turned into four — the COVID-19 pandemic meant he got an extra year of eligibility — and Hedley made the most of it. After slightly regressing last year with his average dipping from 47.2 yards to 44.7, the specialist has bounced back and entered the weekend 14th in the nation at 45.2 yards per punt with 22 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

He’s one of only six punters in the country to average at least 45 yards per punt and have at least 22 of them downed inside the 20.

“When you’re coming out, trying out for the NFL, you want your body to be 100 percent,” Hedley said, “and that’s where I’m at now, so I’m really glad I stayed.”