Clemson’s special teams have quietly turned into one of the most reliable units in the country, and Nolan Hauser has been at the center of it.
That was on full display against Charleston Southern, when the junior kicker went 3-for-3 on field goals and drilled a 59-yarder, the second-longest make in program history. The performance earned him ACC Specialist of the Week honors and pushed him to 14-for-15 on the season at that point.
The biggest reason Hauser has taken another step, according to him, is first-year special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. Hauser said Bisaccia brings in a level of perspective that comes from years in the league and then matches it with a hands-on approach after practice.
“He gives a lot of intel and things that he’s seen in the league,” he replied. “You know, just like sitting down with me after a practice.
Like, I have a bad practice in the spring, or I have a bad practice in the fall; being able to sit down and be like, ‘Okay, you’re really close to mastering it.’ But what he likes to say is, ‘Master it in yourself.
Get a masters in yourself.’”
Hauser said the key for him is not tearing everything down when something goes sideways. Instead, he tries to get to the root of the problem and keep the changes small.
“So, like, not listening to too much, not trying to change too much, but knowing what is going wrong and why it’s going wrong,” he continued. “Because, again, he’s seen everybody.
He’s seen, like, bad plant foot; that’s an example. Just things like that; small, minute details that might throw off a kick or something like that.”
For Hauser, that experience matters because Bisaccia can review a kick with the kind of eye only an NFL-tested coach brings, then use it to build the kicker’s confidence instead of breaking it down. Hauser said he leans on that relationship whether the result is a huge make or a frustrating miss.
“It’s a big confidence boost because you can come off the field and go up to him and be like, ‘Hey coach, what’d you see?’ Or we go watch it ourselves, and he’s like, ‘Teach me; teach me what you see and tell me what you think went wrong in this,’ and he’ll kind of back me on it,” he finished. “So I think that’s an added confidence, going on the field knowing he’s got my back.”
The North Carolina native has been one of the most efficient kickers in the nation this fall. He has made 15 of 16 field goals, with the only miss coming from 48 yards against Cal in Week 4. That puts him tied for first nationally in field goal percentage among kickers with at least 15 attempts at 93.8%, tied for second in field goals made, and tied for third in longest field goal.
Hauser also landed on On3’s Midseason All-America Second Team, and he’ll get another spotlight this weekend when Clemson faces Virginia Tech in a game with ACC title implications. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN.
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