Alex Stadthaus Recalls Interesting Path From Halftime Competition to USC Kicker

On3 imageby:Erik McKinney06/28/22

ErikTMcKinney

USC kicker Alex Stadthaus wasn’t on football recruiting radars heading into his junior year of high school. But that’s only because Stadthaus wasn’t even on the football field at that time.

Late last week, Stadthaus joined USC team reporter Keely Eure on The Victory Podcast and recalled his unconventional path to becoming the potential starting USC kicker this fall.

Stadthaus was on the varsity basketball and soccer teams heading into his junior year at Austin (Tex.) Vandegrift. He’d kicked a little bit in middle school but wasn’t on the football team.

During the 2016 season opener against Odessa (Tex.) Permian, the school hosted a halftime contest called “Kicking for Cash.” Stadthaus said he was nominated by the basketball team to compete by kicking field goals in order to win money for the program. Stadthaus said he spent the week preparing for it by practicing kicking field goals, but his confidence wasn’t exactly sky-high heading into that Friday night.

“Alright, we’ll see how this goes,” Stadthaus recalled thinking. “I have no idea.”

Stadthaus said he was able to use a kicking tee during the competition and started out by making a 20-yard kick. Then moved back and hit a 30-yarder. The final kick of the competition was from 35 yards out. He made it to win the competition and the prize money for the basketball team. But his time in the spotlight wasn’t over. At that point, the event organizer challenged Stadthaus to move back to the 50-yard line and attempt a 60-yard field goal.

He drilled it.

Word got to head football coach Drew Sanders and Stadthaus was officially on his way to becoming a three-sport athlete. Two days later, the offer from Sanders was extended. He joined the football team that season and became the starting kicker midway through the season.

Stadthaus said he was undersized heading into high school so he never really saw the sport as a realistic option. But his physical maturation combined with that offer made it a no-brainer decision for him.

“I was always a huge football fan, grew up loving it,” he said. “When I got that opportunity, I told my parents, ‘Let’s go make this happen.'”

Stadthaus said he worked hard that offseason to improve, eventually landing in the top-20 kickers in the Class of 2018. He received a phone call in January from the Trojans expressing interest in adding him to the program. After a visit later that month, he was committed to USC.

“In the span of about 15 months I went from not being on the football team of my own high school to being committed to USC as a football player,” he said. “So it’s just unbelievable.”

Stadthaus Gets Started at USC

It took Stadthaus almost no time to make an impact for the Trojans. As a true freshman, he handled the very first kickoff of the season against UNLV.

“I really worked hard in camp,” He said. “I knew that I was going to have an opportunity to potentially be able to go in and kick off for the team. So you know, I really put my head down and grinded. I worked really hard to have that chance. And eventually, I won the job.”

Stadthaus was told Thursday before the game that he would be handling kickoffs. He went out for the first kickoff of the season in front of a loud Coliseum crowd.

“What am I doing here right now,” he recalled thinking. “This is insane.”

Stadthaus finished his true freshman season with 41 touchbacks on 61 kickoffs. He ranked 11th nationally with 64.3 yards per kickoff. He handled kickoffs again in 2019 but then did not see action in the 2020 season. Last year, Stadthaus was thrust into action early on, when starting kicker Parker Lewis was ejected from the game against Stanford.

Stadthaus drilled two field goals and two extra points as his replacement. They were his first placement kicking attempts as a Trojan. He saw more and more action as the season went along in place of Lewis. Stadthaus finished the season 6-for-6 on field-goal attempts and 11-for-11 on extra-point tries. He also forced touchbacks on 60% of his kickoffs and recorded two tackles.

Stadthaus Returns to USC

Heading into the 2021 season, Stadthaus figured it would be his final year in cardinal and gold. He wanted to remain at USC, but was unwilling to take on the financial burden of another year’s tuition as a walk-on. He was one of the first group of players to enter the portal shortly after Lincoln Riley’s arrival.

“It would be the most ideal opportunity to stay here at USC because Lincoln Riley is here and I think this program is going to have a serious momentum shift,” Stadthaus said.

But he needed to do what was best for his future and find a place that would put him on scholarship for this upcoming final year of eligibility.

And as it turned out, that place was USC. Stadthaus said a few schools reached out to him after he entered the portal, but Riley brought him into his office.

“He said, ‘You know, Alex, you’re the kicker that we want, you’re the guy that we’re looking for,'” Stadthaus said.

When Stadthaus expressed that he was looking for a scholarship opportunity somewhere, Riley understood. A week later, Stadthaus received a call from Riley. It was on the kicker’s birthday.

“Alex,'” Stadthaus recalled Riley saying. “‘You’re going to be on scholarship here at USC. You’re the guy we want. We’re really excited to make this happen for you.'”

Stadthaus said his next call went to his parents to tell them the news. Their only disappointment was that the birthday gifts they’d gotten for him couldn’t possibly top the news from Riley.

Spring Game Standout

New additions quarterback Caleb Williams, wide receiver Mario Williams and others dominated attention during the spring game. But Stadthaus was absolutely one of the standouts.

He calmly drilled a 55-yard field goal during the game and put kickoffs into the endzone.

The expectation is that USC will score plenty of touchdowns this season. But having a reliable kicker is going to make this offense even more explosive when even a stalled drive can result in points.

It’s been a wild ride for Stadthaus to get to this point. But the former walk-on should now have a real shot at an impressive season. And if he continues this trajectory, he could even have an opportunity to continue kicking in the NFL.

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