Lou Hedley stabilized the punting for the Miami football team in 2019. Hedley is poised to improve after his first season punting at the FBS level last season.
The numbers Australian punter Lou Hedley had for the Miami football team in 2019 were a big improvement over the punting for the Hurricanes in 2018. Miami finished 115th nationally in punting in 2018 averaging 38.25 yards per punt. Hedley was 26th nationally in 2019 averaging 43.88 yards per punt.
Hedley had four touchbacks, forced 15 fair catches, had 21 punts inside the 20 and 16 punts of 50 yards or more in 2019. Hedley signed with Miami from City College of San Francisco where he played in 2017 before redshirting in 2019. Hedley is originally from Mandurah, Australia where he played Australian Rules Football.
Hedley has been busy as his twitter posts have shown. In the last few days, Hedley posted video working out with former CCSF teammates and last month was holding for Miami kicker Camden Price. Hedley will have some competition from former Gulliver Prep Punter Fred Potter who was previously at Bryant College.
With two of the three punters who were named All-ACC in 2019 graduated, Hedley will have a chance to be named all-league. Hedley averaged more yards per punt in 2019 than Sterling Hofrichter of Syracuse who was named first-team All-ACC for the second year in a row. With a good defense, having a good punter it critical.
In 2018 without Hedley as the punter and an inconsistent offense, Miami was often at a disadvantage in field position. The offense remained inconsistent in 2019, but with Hedley improving the Hurricanes putting by over 5.5 yards per punt, that was about an average of 27 yards per game in field position Miami gained.
Special teams are often the overlooked third unit of a football team. Hedley has become an integral part of the Miami Hurricanes. His prowess made Manny Diaz more confident in the special teams. The Aussie is also an exceptional athlete who ran for 75 yards on three carries last season. Hedley is reliable when summoned.