To those inside the program, that level of confidence and swagger was apparent from literally the first few days of Hauser’s tenure. As a midyear enrollee, he arrived at Clemson in December 2023 in advance of his first semester in January, making him eligible to travel with the team to the 2023 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl and practice with the squad in a limited capacity during its bowl preparation.
During one practice at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ indoor facility, Swinney called on Hauser out of the blue and lined up him to test his mettle by simulating a game-winning field goal. Hauser and his fellow specialists had already changed shoes and prepared to load the bus believing their portion of practice was over, but Hauser scrambled to put his cleats back on and trotted out for his first true test in front of his new teammates.
Defensive end T.J. Parker perhaps tells the story the best.
“When I first met Nolan in Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl, we had lined up like a 55-yarder. I said, ‘Bro, you’re going to miss this. You’re from high school,’” Parker recounted after the ACC Championship Game. “He looked me dead in my eyes and said, ‘I can make this [kick] with my eyes closed.’
“He kicked it and it could have went from about 60. So the confidence in him is through the roof. That’s what you need in a kicker – to go out there and make game-winning kicks like that, man. It definitely won’t be his last.”
After the ACC Championship Game, Hauser was asked specifically about what led to his viral wink against SMU.
“Coach Swinney looked at me and he said, ‘Put the ball through,’ and I went, ‘You know it,’” Hauser said while mimicking his nod. “You’ve got to go in with that confidence.”
In September 2024, Clemson World’s Davis Potter published an article entitled “Generational Goals” that highlighted the multi-generational impact of the overlap of the Hauser Family and the Clemson Family. (Editor’s note: The full article has been re-published in full in Orange: The Experience and is linked here).
Nolan’s mother, Sheri Hauser (née Bueter), was an All-American soccer player at Clemson and Clemson Athletic Hall of Famer from 1994-97, and his father, Scott, played baseball at Clemson in 1996 and 1997 and went 6-2 as a pitcher on Clemson’s College World Series team of 1996. Nolan’s sister, Ella, was a member of Clemson’s women’s soccer team that earned the program’s first College Cup appearance in 2023.
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