Five-star kicker set national records. He wants to do the same for Clemson
Extra points are fine. So are the short field goals. But if you really want to know what Nolan Hauser is all about, ask him about the hardest parts of his job.
Long field goals. Game-winning attempts. High-pressure situations where success is measured on how he hits a ball with his right foot.
“That’s what I love about being a kicker,” Hauser told The State.
To say that mentality’s worked out for him so far would be an understatement. In the history of sanctioned U.S. high school football, no kicker has made more career field goals than Hauser, a three-star 2024 kicker recruit who formally signed with Clemson on Wednesday.
The No. 3 kicker in his class per 247Sports and a five-star recruit per Chris Sailer Kicking, Hauser will join the Tigers having made 66 of his 81 career field goals (81%) and 205 of his 211 career extra points (97%) during four productive seasons at Hough High School outside Charlotte.
And he’ll be a welcome addition to a program that struggled mightily in the kicking game this season — so much that coach Dabo Swinney brought a former walk-on who was taking online classes in Charleston back onto the roster to spell the team’s initial starter for 2023.
This isn’t like the 2010 season, when Swinney would often remind fans that “help is on the way” for Clemson’s struggling offense in the form of five-star 2011 recruit Sammy Watkins, who wound up as one of the best wide receivers in school history.
But bringing in a kicker of Hauser’s caliber — directly after Jonathan Weitz and Robert Gunn III struggled this season trying to replace standout kicker B.T. Potter — has many in and around Clemson excited about the true freshman. Swinney included.
“We’re gonna sign who we think is the best guy in the country,” Swinney said in November. “That’s our plan. … And if that works out, then you’ve got great competition and competition makes everybody better and you go from there.”
Added Hauser: “Obviously, I’m going into a competition. Nothing’s being given to me. They’ve made that clear. … It’s gonna be a competition this year, and I’m ready to go and (see) whoever comes out on top.”
Clemson’s kicking struggles
Potter, who’s currently an NFL free agent, finished his five-year Clemson career as the program’s all-time leader in field goals made. He was going to be hard to replace.
Clemson figured that out the hard way as Gunn, a redshirt freshman who signed as a scholarship recruit in the Class of 2022, went 1-4 on field goals in the first three games of the season, had two of those kicks blocked and also missed an extra point.
His struggles prompted Swinney to call up Weitz, Potter’s backup of four years who’d left the team with one year of eligibility remaining after the 2022 season and had a job lined up in New York City this fall before Swinney checked in.
Weitz came out of “retirement” to mixed results, missing a potential 29-yard game-winning field goal against No. 4 Florida State in his first appearance and going 11-17 on kicks in the regular season (64.7%) and 4-9 on kicks longer than 40 yards (44%).
Enter Hauser, who’s got the sort of consistency and range that could change Clemson’s mind in so many of the “to kick or not to kick” situations that affected the team throughout 2023.
Hauser was 12-15 on field goals and 47-48 on PATs during his senior season at Hough, which also saw him blow past the National Federation of State High School Associations career record for field goals made with 66. (The previous record: 56.)
During high-volume sophomore and junior seasons for the Huskies, he was also 21-26 and 20-25 on field goals, respectively.
Hauser nailed a career-long 53-yard field goal during his senior season and said he’s hit a field goal from as far as 68 yards in a non-game setting.
“I feel like I have a different mentality than any other kicker,” said Hauser, a 2023 MaxPreps All-American who kicked for the North Carolina team last week at the Shrine Bowl in Spartanburg. “I can go in and nothing really bothers me. A lot of guys have mental blocks that you have to pass. I feel like I run out there and expect I’m making every single one of them.”
Help on the way
Hauser grew up in Cornelius, North Carolina, in a family heavy on Clemson ties. His father, Scott, played baseball at Clemson; his mother, Sheri, was an All-American women’s soccer player there; and his older sister, Ella, is a current member of the women’s soccer team.
“Shout out to them for making the final four this year,” Hauser said.
All that orange and purple overlap didn’t drive Hauser’s decision-making process, though. Clemson was his dream school, but he weighed other opportunities. Maryland and NC State offered him scholarships, and UNC, another in-state school, was the runner-up.
Then again, celebrating in the locker room with Clemson’s team after a home win in 2022 was tough to beat. Swinney formally offered Hauser a scholarship that night and, although the kicker didn’t go public with his commitment until nine days later, he committed immediately.
“I knew that was where I wanted to be,” Hauser said. “I told him on the spot. I said, ‘I’m all in. I’m ready to go. Let’s do this.’”
Now “this” is almost here. After signing his national letter of intent Wednesday at Hough, Hauser will join the Clemson team days later in Jacksonville as they prepare for the Gator Bowl vs. Kentucky and get some early bowl practice reps ahead of his January early enrollment.
From there, he’ll need to beat out Gunn — someone he’s hung out with before and compliments as a cool guy with a strong leg — for Clemson’s starting kicker position for 2024. And if that happens?
“Obviously, I wanna set records at Clemson,” Hauser said. “And hopefully, one day, play in the NFL.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2023 at 6:20 AM with the headline "Five-star kicker set national records. He wants to do the same for Clemson."
