Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Mountaineers Getting Their Kicks With Addition Of Hayes
November 07, 2023 11:55 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – You can count Michael Hayes among the transfer portal success stories for 6-3 West Virginia this year. The Georgia State transfer came to WVU looking to perform on a much bigger stage in the Big 12 Conference.
And perform he has.
Through nine games, the Florence, South Carolina, resident has converted 12 of his 13 field goal attempts, and the one he missed at TCU, a 58-yarder, came after his successful 53-yarder was erased because of a false start penalty.
He booted a 42-yarder in West Virginia's 17-6 victory over Pitt, kicked a pair of field goals in the Texas Tech victory, added the goal-ahead score in WVU's come-from behind win over TCU and has successfully kicked five field goals in the Mountaineers' last two triumphs over Central Florida and BYU.
He's five-of-five in field goals from distances between 40 and 49 yards, and as the team's kickoff man, 18 of his kickoffs have not been returned. Furthermore, he's 31-of-31 on conversion attempts.
So, by any criteria you want to consider, Hayes must be considered a big find when he chose to transfer to WVU last January.
"A major goal of mine was to play the biggest football I could possibly play," Hayes said yesterday. "I thought I accomplished just about as much as I could at Georgia State."
As a place-kicker there, he converted 11 of his 14 field goal attempts last year and 41 of 42 conversion kicks. As the team's punter, he averaged 42 yards per punt and 47 of his 69 kickoffs were touchbacks.
"I did all three there my previous year there," Hayes explained. "I just wanted a bigger stage, and I wanted to put myself in the best position possible for my future goals. When I got into the portal, West Virginia felt right for me, the coaching staff, the facilities and everything it had to offer in terms of getting me to where I can be the most successful."
Nothing was promised to Hayes when he transferred, and he had to beat out Danny King in a kicking competition that extended into preseason camp. Hayes credits King for helping him become a better kicker.
"At Georgia State, that's a difference than from here," Hayes said. "I didn't always have someone that pushed me. Danny has brought the best out of me, and I've brought the best out of him. He's a very good field goal kicker and kickoff guy. Competition brings the best out of everyone, and he's definitely pushed me."
Judging from some of his social media posts, Hayes was sort of a free spirit at Georgia State. At WVU, he's purposely concealed some of this.
"The stage is bigger here," he explained. "The pressure is higher, and the stakes are higher and I kind of like to worry about just doing my job. There, we didn't have too much of a fan base and here I'm more worried about executing my job and just getting it done. I was younger when I was doing that staff and was kind of in that phase."
One of the things he has had to learn are the tricky wind conditions at Milan Puskar Stadium, particularly toward the hospital end of the stadium.
The wind outside the stadium can blow in a completely different direction than inside, so Hayes has learned to study all the flags to determine wind direction. He said kicking at Turner Field, the former home of the Atlanta Braves, could also be a challenging proposition.
"Any stadium you go to there are going to be different winds," he noted. "At Georgia State, I kicked at a baseball stadium so that was a very tough place to kick in terms of wind. Our stadium is tough when there is wind.
"What I've discovered is the wind is kind of hidden sometimes. You can't necessarily trust the flags on the uprights all the time," Hayes added.
"I try and look at the American flag (outside the stadium) because I like to judge off it as well," Hayes said. "That is something I have to work on in warmups. I like to get out as early as I can to see what the flags are doing and the difference between the flags inside the stadium and outside."
When the winds are swirling, Hayes said he just has to trust his ball and swing.
"A lot of it is not getting too much in your head with that," he admitted. "Don't overthink it and just trust your swing and those thousands of reps you've taken up to that point."
His coach, Neal Brown, said he's comfortable with Hayes up to about 55 yards.
"He's been a factor for us on kickoffs and he's kind of picked up where Casey (Legg) left off in the field goal game, too," Brown said.
Hayes, who admits to being superstitious, was taught at an early age that the mental aspects of kicking are a lot more important than the physical aspects.
"That's something Dan Orner, someone I've trained with since eighth grade, always said. It's 90% mental," Hayes said. "In the offseason is when you want to go back to your mechanics, fundamentals and train that stuff. When you get into the season, you don't have time to think about things like that."
Hayes said he does his midrange and fundamental work on Tuesdays and his longer kicking comes on Wednesdays and Fridays.
"It varies and depends on my confidence level and if I've gotten enough reps to feel good for a long kick on Saturdays," he said.
One thing King won't do is end a practice on a miss. Superstition requires it always ends on a make.
"I've got to. The kick count goes out the door there. I can't go off the field with a miss," he concluded.
West Virginia, now bowl-eligible, is one of seven teams still in the hunt for the Big 12 championship game played on Saturday, Dec. 2, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Mountaineers play at Oklahoma on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on FOX.
And perform he has.
Through nine games, the Florence, South Carolina, resident has converted 12 of his 13 field goal attempts, and the one he missed at TCU, a 58-yarder, came after his successful 53-yarder was erased because of a false start penalty.
He booted a 42-yarder in West Virginia's 17-6 victory over Pitt, kicked a pair of field goals in the Texas Tech victory, added the goal-ahead score in WVU's come-from behind win over TCU and has successfully kicked five field goals in the Mountaineers' last two triumphs over Central Florida and BYU.
He's five-of-five in field goals from distances between 40 and 49 yards, and as the team's kickoff man, 18 of his kickoffs have not been returned. Furthermore, he's 31-of-31 on conversion attempts.
So, by any criteria you want to consider, Hayes must be considered a big find when he chose to transfer to WVU last January.
"A major goal of mine was to play the biggest football I could possibly play," Hayes said yesterday. "I thought I accomplished just about as much as I could at Georgia State."
As a place-kicker there, he converted 11 of his 14 field goal attempts last year and 41 of 42 conversion kicks. As the team's punter, he averaged 42 yards per punt and 47 of his 69 kickoffs were touchbacks.
"I did all three there my previous year there," Hayes explained. "I just wanted a bigger stage, and I wanted to put myself in the best position possible for my future goals. When I got into the portal, West Virginia felt right for me, the coaching staff, the facilities and everything it had to offer in terms of getting me to where I can be the most successful."
Nothing was promised to Hayes when he transferred, and he had to beat out Danny King in a kicking competition that extended into preseason camp. Hayes credits King for helping him become a better kicker.
"At Georgia State, that's a difference than from here," Hayes said. "I didn't always have someone that pushed me. Danny has brought the best out of me, and I've brought the best out of him. He's a very good field goal kicker and kickoff guy. Competition brings the best out of everyone, and he's definitely pushed me."
Judging from some of his social media posts, Hayes was sort of a free spirit at Georgia State. At WVU, he's purposely concealed some of this.
"The stage is bigger here," he explained. "The pressure is higher, and the stakes are higher and I kind of like to worry about just doing my job. There, we didn't have too much of a fan base and here I'm more worried about executing my job and just getting it done. I was younger when I was doing that staff and was kind of in that phase."
One of the things he has had to learn are the tricky wind conditions at Milan Puskar Stadium, particularly toward the hospital end of the stadium.
The wind outside the stadium can blow in a completely different direction than inside, so Hayes has learned to study all the flags to determine wind direction. He said kicking at Turner Field, the former home of the Atlanta Braves, could also be a challenging proposition.
"Any stadium you go to there are going to be different winds," he noted. "At Georgia State, I kicked at a baseball stadium so that was a very tough place to kick in terms of wind. Our stadium is tough when there is wind.
"What I've discovered is the wind is kind of hidden sometimes. You can't necessarily trust the flags on the uprights all the time," Hayes added.
"I try and look at the American flag (outside the stadium) because I like to judge off it as well," Hayes said. "That is something I have to work on in warmups. I like to get out as early as I can to see what the flags are doing and the difference between the flags inside the stadium and outside."
When the winds are swirling, Hayes said he just has to trust his ball and swing.
"A lot of it is not getting too much in your head with that," he admitted. "Don't overthink it and just trust your swing and those thousands of reps you've taken up to that point."
His coach, Neal Brown, said he's comfortable with Hayes up to about 55 yards.
"He's been a factor for us on kickoffs and he's kind of picked up where Casey (Legg) left off in the field goal game, too," Brown said.
Hayes, who admits to being superstitious, was taught at an early age that the mental aspects of kicking are a lot more important than the physical aspects.
"That's something Dan Orner, someone I've trained with since eighth grade, always said. It's 90% mental," Hayes said. "In the offseason is when you want to go back to your mechanics, fundamentals and train that stuff. When you get into the season, you don't have time to think about things like that."
Hayes said he does his midrange and fundamental work on Tuesdays and his longer kicking comes on Wednesdays and Fridays.
"It varies and depends on my confidence level and if I've gotten enough reps to feel good for a long kick on Saturdays," he said.
One thing King won't do is end a practice on a miss. Superstition requires it always ends on a make.
"I've got to. The kick count goes out the door there. I can't go off the field with a miss," he concluded.
West Virginia, now bowl-eligible, is one of seven teams still in the hunt for the Big 12 championship game played on Saturday, Dec. 2, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Mountaineers play at Oklahoma on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on FOX.
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