Lou Hedley

UM Football Punter

By Kylie Wang//Photo courtesy of UM Athletics

November 2019

There aren’t a lot of college football punters like Lou Hedley. At 6 foot and 4 inches, and 215 pounds, Hedley strikes an intimidating figure for his position, and that’s without the tattoos crisscrossing his arms, chest, and neck.

Hedley looks more like a tattoo shop owner or a scaffold builder from the Australian desert… which is exactly what he was. The 26-year-old hails from a tiny fishing town on the west coast of Australia where he and his two siblings grew up. He started playing Australian Rules football as soon as he could walk. When his family moved to the city of Perth when he was a teenager, Hedley had the opportunity to play at a higher level. He spent the time playing football, laying scaffolding, or flying to Bali, Indonesia to oversee a tattoo shop he started.

In the fall of 2017, Hedley moved to California, where he attended San Francisco City College and started punting for American football. In early 2019, the University of Miami offered him a scholarship.

Latest Endeavors

“A 45 [yard] net punt average is something that we [didn’t have] a year ago, so he’s a big weapon for us,” Head Coach Manny Diaz says. “I think Louis is getting more comfortable with being in the game. Like anybody else [in their] first ever experience of American football at this stage, it’s quite a big deal.” During an overtime loss against Georgia Tech, the punter hit his career long, bombing the football for 67 yards. Hedley will continue punting for UM for two more years and then hopes to make the pros.

What He Says

“The whole American culture I’m sort of adapted to, but now here… I feel it’s more of a family,” says Hedley. “I’ve been here for a while getting to know the coaches closer and the players. It’s got a real home feel. [We have] an amazing stadium and amazing fans so [it’s always] good to run out there in front of them.”