National Football League players often have some pretty impressive accolades on their resume — All-Conference selections, Heisman Trophies, Player of the Year honors — but not many have the resume that Ravens kicker and Needham, Mass., native Steve Hauschka has.
Hauschka is in his second year with the Ravens after spending the fall of 2007 with the North Carolina State Wolfpack. There, he drilled 16-of-18 field goal attempts, including 8-of-8 from 40-plus yards out. But his time in Raleigh as a graduate student isn't what separates him from most of today's NFL superstars.
It was at Middlebury College in Vermont where Hauschka first split a set of uprights. A soccer and lacrosse player in high school, Hauschka walked on to the football team on a whim as a sophomore. He even played both soccer and lacrosse at Middlebury his freshman year before making the switch to the gridiron.
"I was about as raw as it got for talent," he told the Baltimore Sun. "Somehow, they ended up going with me, and I did pretty well. And I remember thinking: 'What am I doing here? I'm a soccer player.' I never even played football, and there were these recruits and everyone was talking about these recruits that they brought in. So I had those nerves and worried that I might not win this. But the only way to get over that is to keep your head down and get better as a kicker, and those things took care of themselves."
In his three years as the Panthers’ placekicker and punter, Hauschka earned All-NESCAC awards at both positions and was also tabbed for
the All-New England Team. He broke Middlebury’s single-season record
with 10 field goals in 2006 and owns the career record for made field
goals with 20.
"He has a soccer background and has really taught himself how to kick," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said in a conference call on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder didn't just learn how to kick at Middlebury. He graduated with a 3.69 GPA in neurosciences. He was actually accepted into five dental schools — including Maryland at Baltimore, UCLA and Tufts — following his impressive academic and athletic career at the Vermont private college.
But the son of a former NFL placekicker-turned-dentist, Hauschka decided to take a route similar to the one his father Peter took over four decades ago. Peter had stints with the Bears and Cowboys before starting his career in dentistry. Hauschka was well on his way to a similar path when the Vikings signed him as a non-drafted free agent following the 2008 entry draft.
After the Vikings released him three months later, the Ravens quickly swooped in and signed him the next day. The Needham soccer player with the strong right leg and a limitless mind was officially a football player and launched a kickoff in Baltimore's Week 1 win over the Bengals. Nine weeks later, he would drill his first career field goal, a 54-yard bomb in a 41-13 win in Houston.
"He’s done a great job," Harbaugh said. "I think he’s improved tremendously in the last year with Randy Brown, who is one of our coaches who helps him. He has a lot of talent. He’s a big, tall, strong guy and he’s very athletic. He has to prove himself, but he has a chance to kick in this league for a long time. He may miss a kick here or there and work through it, but he may not. So he does a good job."
The pressure will be on Hauschka this weekend when he returns home to kick field goals against his childhood team, the Patriots, who play just 13 miles from his hometown.
"It's definitely going to be a fun experience," said Hauschka, who has drilled 4-of-5 field goals and has been good on all 13 extra-point attempts this season. "I grew up watching the Patriots play. I was a Patriots fan. Can't say that I am any longer. I used to watch Adam Vinatieri kick field goals. It'll be a surreal experience to get out on that field. I've seen so many games played there, but I actually haven't been on the field yet. So it'll be fun."
