From Miami, Oklahoma, to Miami, Florida …
In 2018, punter Tommy Heatherly had no scholarship offers from a four-year university. FIU coaches, who were looking for a punter, scouted a junior college game between Tyler (Texas) and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, which is located in that other Miami.
FIU wanted the kid who played for Tyler, not Heatherly.
“I got kind of lucky,” Heatherly said. “[FIU coaches] mistakenly ran the tape of one of my kicks. [FIU coach Butch] Davis said, ‘Who’s this kid?’”
FIU signed Heatherly, and last season he set the program’s single-season record with a 44.4-yard average. He was also a Ray Guy Award semifinalist, the only punter to make that list without playing for a school from a Power 5 conference.
Asked about his good fortune in recruiting, Heatherly said: “It was God’s way of saying, ‘This is your path. Take it.’”
Last season, there were times he thought his immediate path was an NFL tryout. But, oddly, FIU’s 0-5 record convinced him to stay for one more season.
“I’ve never left a program with a losing record,” Heatherly said. “We want to leave with a good season and a January bowl — fix up [the program] for the future.”
Heatherly is from the small Oklahoma town of Grove (population: 7,000). It’s also the hometown of the late Roy Clark, who hosted the popular TV show “Hee-Haw” for parts of four decades.
In the third grade, Heatherly, who grew up as a soccer player, started kicking footballs.
By the ninth grade, his football coach told him he was going to college as a punter, and that’s exactly what happened. He signed with Northeastern Oklahoma, which is where tight end Jeremy Shockey was in 1998 when he was discovered by the Miami Hurricanes.
Who coached the Canes at that time?
Davis, who is also a native of Oklahoma.
Heatherly, who is majoring in kinesiology and is set to earn his bachelor’s degree in December, admits he didn’t know where FIU was located when he was contacted by Davis three years ago:
Now he’s here, and he has boomed a practice punt as far as 88 yards in the air.
Heatherly, however, has changed his mentality this year with the arrival of new special teams coordinator Casey Horny.
“My weakness since I got to FIU was positional punting to the left side, and that’s something [Horny] has been preaching,” Heatherly said. “I’m focusing on being accurate and stop worrying about hitting such a big ball. [Horny] has helped me lose the thought of, ‘The bigger the better’.
“He preaches quality kicks.”
Heatherly credits his teammates on the punt team for a good portion of his success, and that includes “my two shields” who protect him in the pocket: Kevin Oliver and Davon Strickland. Heatherly also mentioned players such as Jesson Walker and Benny McCray, who cover his punts.
Thanks in part to those teammates, of Heatherly’s 32 punts last year, 11 were fair catches and 10 were downed inside the 20. Only seven of his punts were returned, and that was for a total of negative-three yards.
“We’ve had two great years as a punt team,” said Heatherly, who averaged 43.0 yards in 2019. “The big focus is matching my hang time with my distance.”
Horny is convinced Heatherly’s future is bright.
“Tommy has that ability to punt at the next level,” Horny said.
Heatherly believes the keys to his punting are his core strength and his stretching routine. He hopes that will carry him to the NFL, perhaps as a teammate of his friend, ex-FIU and UM kicker Jose Borregales, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“The NFL has been my dream since the third grade,” Heatherly said. “I think I can make a big impact down the road.
“But, for now, I’m focused on FIU.”