Kohl flew from Iowa to Arizona the night after his camp in Ames, and his flight didn’t land until the wee hours of the morning. Still, he knew he didn’t have much time – so he called Haack’s parents in the middle of the night.
“Look, you don’t know who I am,” Kohl said. “And I apologize for calling you this late. But this is really urgent. And I’m just asking you to trust me.”
Kohl’s pitch: I want you to drop everything and meet me at Arizona State. From there, we’ll go across the country, hitting my showcase camps from Stanford to Notre Dame to Miami. At some point, if you trust me, your son is talented enough that he will be offered a Division I scholarship.
“He was on the phone with my parents that night until two or three in the morning,” Haack said. “I woke up the next day and my parents were like, we’re going on a trip to all these camps with Jamie Kohl.”
This was a significant financial and time commitment for the Haack family. But they bought into Kohl’s vision – and Kohl’s vision was only strengthened by how all-in Haack and his family were.
Haack impressed during Kohl’s camp at Arizona State. And during his cross-country tour, he got the call from Tempe: Hey, we’d like to offer you a scholarship.
Kohl was right. This kid with incredible leg talent but only basic fundamentals would be a Division I punter.
The story doesn’t end there, though. Haack got to Arizona State and worked tirelessly on his craft (one advantage of ASU: He could punt year-round).
“When I got to ASU, I had to learn how to punt for real,” Haack said.
And it’s one thing to earn a Division I, Power-Five scholarship. It’s another to turn that opportunity into a pro career. Haack went from averaging 38 yards per punt as a freshman to 44.4 (sixth-best in the nation) as a senior. And with pro scouts already on campus to watch Sun Devils kicker Zane Gonzalez – who wound up a 2017 seventh-round draft pick – Haack landed on the radar of a number of teams around the NFL during his senior…
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