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National Signing Day begins at 7 a.m. local time. And if local is Australia, then you get this kind of wonderful news before Signing Day begins in America:
It’s official!! I’m a cane Thank you to everyone that has helped me get to this point. LETS GOO!! 3️⃣0️⃣5️⃣ #TNM #BEATUF @CanesFootball @ProkickAus @Coach_MannyDiaz @JohnnyPKA @CoachKalter @CoachKalter @67outlaw @CCSFFootball @tweetiebeattie @richiehedley pic.twitter.com/0kQj7a9Uh4
— Louis Hedley (@LouisHedley1) February 6, 2019
That man is 41 years old, working as a bouncer at a graveyard, and moving to Miami in order to finally assume custody of his son, Stitches.
Or actually, here’s the student newspaper at City College of San Francisco, where Hedley transferred a few months after taking up football, in 2017:
The 24-year-old from Mandurah, Australia, is much more athletic than most punters. Built more like a wide receiver or shooting guard in basketball, Headley is 6’4, 215 pounds and has a lean athletic build along with the ability to punt the ball well over 60-yards downfield.
A former Australian rules football player, which is a modified version of rugby that plays on an oval field instead of a square one, Headley is part of the trend of Aussie players coming over to America to punt with the hopes of making the NFL.
Bringing punters over from Australia has been A Thing for a while now, with a constant stream of them winning the Ray Guy Award as the top player at the position in college. There’s a whole industry for it in Australia.
From the student paper again:
Headley decided to try out punting when someone who had watched him play Aussie rules football told him he had a big boot and should try punting. Before that, Headley had been playing since he was 3 years old and had played semi-professional for three years in Western Australia.
Headley connected with Prokick Australia, a company that helps Aussie rules players learn to punt so they can head to America to play football. Prokick Australia has helped send multiple punters to City College, many of whom moved on to play at the Division I level.
This guy. @LouisHedley1 To Miami. Those who know him understand that he has deserved every part of this. Changed his life,went to JC at CCSF and now heads to Miami with a 3.7 GPA. A scaffolder turned College student. oh and he lives Tatts. On ya Louie. @PatMcAfeeShow #punta pic.twitter.com/ERI2ELeXeR
— Prokick Australia (@ProkickAus) February 6, 2019
Miami has several problems at the moment, but none bigger than punting. The Canes ranked in the 100s for two straight years in punting average, landing dead last in FBS in S&P+’s punting efficiency stat in 2018.
The Canes celebrated the news appropriately:
#WelcomeToTheU #TNM pic.twitter.com/xQa9LX1zXV
— Manny Diaz (@Coach_MannyDiaz) February 6, 2019
Here he is thumping the rock, and this big athlete can probably run some fakes in FBS:
And now we sit back and wait for the memes to roll in during every Miami game.