Football recruiting can be a funny thing, no more so than when it comes to place-kickers.
It’s not like the other positions, where coaches need a ton of people in the rotation.
It’s a well-known fact that Division I FBS college coaches are not armed with a ton of scholarships for kickers so it’s not unusual that hugely talented, super hard workers like Kaiser’s Kyler Halvorsen have to wait for their opportunity. After all, there are only 130 Division I FBS schools and the open jobs are scarce.
Not getting a D-I FBS scholarship wound up being Halvorsen’s fate. Instead, he accepted an invitation from Washington State to be a preferred walk-on. On Tuesday, he messaged Bedrock Sports Hawaii with the news.
Kyler Halvorsen is off to Washington State.
Lots of schools at lower levels courted Halvorsen, and the kid hit Twitter every single time to thank the schools and coaches. He could easily have gone the small-school route.
But official workouts for at the 2021 college season start in about three months and so it was time for Halvorsen to decide.
“This whole recruiting marathon has been full of ups and downs,” Halvorsen told Bedrock Sports. “I was lucky to meet a lot of great coaches, not just in D-I, but in D-II, D-III and NAIA and it was really humbling to have them show interest in me.”
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By late last week, Halvorsen narrowed his choices to Washington State, Cal and Hawaii.
“The chance to go to Pullman and play for someone my family has so much respect for in Coach Roll, that was too great to pass up,” added Halvorsen, who kicked a 53-yard field goal as a junior but missed his whole senior season for the Cougars last fall when COVID-19 wiped away all of Hawaii high school football. “The other coaches with Hawaii roots on the staff are awesome too and I just felt like this was the perfect fit for me. They had a terrific kicker leave for his last year and that opened things up. To get a chance to play for a great school like WSU and have a chance to win the starting job as a freshman was literally the chance of a lifetime.”
Kyler Halvorsen’s 53-yard field goal during his junior season. (Video credit: KHON2).
One of those assistants with Hawaii ties, Craig Stutzmann (Washington State offensive coordinator, former Hawaii standout receiver) took the time to make Halvorsen feel like be belonged. Special teams coordinator Kyle Krantz and director of transfer recruiting Josh Omura also had a hand in the process that led to Halvorsen accepting the walk-on bid.
Lining up a kick at Kaiser Stadium in 2019.
“Coach Krantz is amazing and really knows what he is doing, so I feel like with him having my back he will help me become the best kicker I can be and make WSU proud,” Halvorsen said. “He told me some nice things — that he liked my mental toughness and liked that I am an athlete as well, not just a specialist. Coach Omura really worked hard to show the staff I was someone worth taking a chance on, so I am super grateful. At the end of the day, it just felt like the right decision and a perfect fit so I knew WSU was the school for me. I can’t wait to repay their confidence in me and get out there and make some big kicks.”
