Senior punter John Haggerty is a player unlike any other on the Hilltopper Football team. Not only is he the oldest player on the team, but the only native of Australia on the roster.
The 26-year old special teams expert is in his second season on The Hill and head coach Tyson Helton knows the benefits of having such a unique player like Haggerty.
"The guy is 26 years old, married, and it's like having an NFL player out there," Helton said. "...almost having another coach on punt team...very fortunate and blessed to have John."
Haggerty is coming off of a performance in week 1 that we've gotten accustomed to seeing from him. He booted the ball five times for just over 200 yards equating to a 41.6 average and a long punt of 63 yards.
Put those numbers together and that gets the Aussie his first Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week for 2020.
"I'm not a big award person, so it's good to have, but I don't play football for the awards," Haggerty said. "I play to win, so I'm here to do whatever the coaches ask of me, whatever that is, that's what I came here to do."
The humble punter has plenty of awards to be proud of. Not only was he named Punter of the Week after week 1, but he was also named to the 2020 Ray Guy Award Watch List during preseason, honoring the nations best punter.
The accolades don't stop there.
Haggerty was also named 2020 Conference USA Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year. Along with that, Haggerty was the first WKU punter since Brian Claybourn in 2003 and 2004 to be voted first team all-conference after his 2019 campaign.
"John's been very consistent, like John always is. He's booming it pretty good. It's great," Helton said. "He's just been really good throughout camp. Everything he's hit has been really, really good."
Really good is an understatement for what Haggerty accomplished last season. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound punter set the all-time WKU program record with 45.9 yards per punt ranking 13th in FBS, while his 42.1 yard net-average was good for 10th in FBS.
Haggerty compiled 17 kicks of 50 plus yards in 2019 after WKU had 18 of such kicks from 2016 to 2018.
Although Haggerty's 2019 season was near flawless, the returning senior knows there is always room for improvement. Earlier during fall camp he elaborated on his mechanics.
"Just getting everything perfect. Especially towards the end of last season I started to fall away," Haggerty said. "This preseason I've just worked on my mechanics and getting everything in a straight line, getting the ball moving where I want it to."
Haggerty doesn't just punt for the Hilltoppers, he is also the holder for sophomore kicker Cory Munson. Haggerty knows the importance of clean holds and has worked on that this past offseason as well.
"I've been working a lot on my holding as well, so that's very important to get points on the board," Haggerty said.
Overall, WKU has an enormous advantage in having a unique, powerful punter in John Haggerty. There's always the idea that special teams guys get overlooked, but for the Hilltoppers this punter gets plenty of attention.
Punters like Haggerty focus so much on their mechanics that one wouldn't think they care too much about wins and losses. This is not the case for the Sydney, Australia native.
"I just came here to win...my main focus is to win...so if that means Coach wants me to kick a 20-yard ball, I'll go out there and kick a 20-yard ball," Haggerty said. "So I'm not worried about averages and hang-time. I know I can do it, so that is not a problem. Whatever they call upon me to do, that's what I'm going to do."
