Kicking it up a notch

The numbers are where you need to start with Coyote kicker Will Leyland. During a breakout football season at South Dakota that can be connected to pivotal plays made by several players spread out over a series of games, the field goal squad has scored a perfect 10.

From long snapper Caden Pellizzer’s hands to holder Tyler Ebel’s hands to Leyland’s right foot, they’re 10-for-10 this season. You can’t get much better than that. 

But that’s just the beginning of what is compelling about Leyland, a native of Pennsylvania whose interests and abilities go well beyond the necessarily narrow focus of kicking footballs through goal posts.

Leyland is an Eagle Scout, he was recruited to play Division I water polo out of high school and is a competitive Esport player at USD. He can tell you stories about each of those pursuits, he can tell you why they’re part of his life and why those life experiences help him on Saturdays, but this week all that stuff takes a backseat to a playoff game against Sacramento State at the DakotaDome.

“It has been so much fun going out every week and playing football with these guys,” said Leyland, a sophomore who started his college career at Temple. “That’s just how this season has been going. When you’re having fun like this you play well. That’s how the vibe has been all season and I’m hoping we’re going to be able to extend that long into the playoffs.”

Leyland’s 10 field goals include a crucial fourth-quarter 37-yarder to put USD up by two scores in the win over North Dakota State and a 41-yarder with no time remaining to beat Youngstown State 34-31. There was also a 50-yarder against SDSU that lacked situational drama but demonstrated he has more range than some might have thought. 

Collectively, he did his part to put the 9-2 Coyotes in position to earn a first-round bye as the three seed in the FCS playoffs. 

“For the team, that kick against NDSU meant a lot,” Leyland said. “Up in Fargo they heckle you from the second you get on the field. One of their security guards was even saying stuff to me. It was pretty funny. I’m hearing it from their student section – you know, ‘Hey 15, you got a big kick coming up here. You better make this one, man.’ That kind of thing. I loved it.” 

He has been a very vocal supporter of his teammates throughout, but during the fourth quarter at NDSU he had a chance to really figure in contributing to a win that could have a huge impact on the direction of a season.

“All the guys had done everything they could do to put us in the position to win that game,” he said. “I’m thinking it was time to go out there and close it out. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was good. Ebel and ‘Pel’ have been awesome all season. It was at that point that I thought we could just keep this rolling and that’s pretty much what we’ve done.”

His habit for taking things on at full speed makes for interesting conversation and a busy life. 

His pursuit of becoming an Eagle Scout began in fifth grade when at the encouragement of a friend, he became a Cub Scout. It was just something to do at the time, but then he got into it and stayed with it over the years. The commitment in time and the complexity of the projects increased as he advanced, and the time he devoted to sports also increased. He hung in there with scouting, though, at a stage when many former Cub Scouts have moved on to other things.

For his final project he reconstructed the bleachers at the community swimming pool where he served as a lifeguard.

“These bleachers had originally been at the baseball diamonds and then they just moved them over to the pool,” Leyland said. “They were rotted and super splintery. One kid was actually taken to the hospital in an ambulance when he got a three-inch splinter stuck in his leg.”

Leyland needed a significant project to clear the final Eagle Scout hurdle and those old bleachers seemed like a worthy task. He cleared it with the pool manager and set up meetings with city engineers. They took the rust off the bleachers’ metal frames and repainted them, then replaced the rotted wood with recycled plastic boards. When the boards sagged, he met with the engineers again. 

It was a glitch he did not plan on, but this was a project that would make him an Eagle Scout. It wasn’t supposed to be easy. 

He and the engineers opted to add aluminum angle iron to the frames to make the benches sturdier. Years later, they’re still looking sharp. 

In all he was part of a 250-hour volunteer effort to transform the bleachers. 

“Every time I drive past there now it’s an awesome reminder of my time in the Boy Scouts,” Leyland said. “Getting involved in scouting was one of the first times where I was able to appreciate working for something greater without seeing the destination right in front of me. That has really stuck with me.”

He was introduced to water polo in gym class and it became another one of those deals he couldn’t get enough of. A polo game in the state of South Dakota would likely involve horses but in Pennsylvania, they go with the real deal. As the lone senior on a team loaded with underclassmen, Souderton Area High School qualified for the state tournament his final season There were lessons there, too. Because both football and water polo were fall sports, it would have been easy to give up going to the pool. That would have meant abandoning teammates, however, and he wasn’t going to do that.

“There were days when I would get out of the pool after an hour swim set and run down the back hallway of the athletic department in my Speedo, then throw on football pants and pads and get out and kick for an hour-and-a-half,” he said. “And then I’d do the same thing in reverse and get back in the pool for another hour. It was pretty crazy.”

Leyland is also an excellent Esport athlete at USD with a specialty in a game called Rocket League. When asked to explain it to one of the last baby boomers – let’s face it, most of us just don’t get it – he did his best to accommodate.

“It’s basically soccer with cars,” Leyland said. “I’ve put a lot of hours into it. In high school after a long swimming practice I’d just kind of shut my brain down and only think about putting the ball in the goal. It’s like working all week and then watching college football on Saturday. It’s relaxing.”

He didn’t know USD had an Esports team when he decided on transferring and he didn’t know he’d be on the team but here he is and here we are. 

“No, I didn’t think I’d be playing car soccer on a college Esports team,” he said. “But I’ve met some really cool people on that team. Honestly, it’s a great form of therapy for me.”

As with scouting, there has been a climb involved in his pursuit of excellence.

“In order to fly a helicopter, you need 400 hours of classroom training and 300 hours of hands-on training,” Leyland said. “Then you’re certified to fly a helicopter. In order to get to the rank I’m at in Rocket League, you’d have to learn to fly a helicopter three times. It’s just something I’ve stuck with and gotten pretty good at.”

This operational analytics major is also pretty good at kicking the football. It’s a specialty during a special season.

“This team is so close,” he said. “I’m close friends with just about everybody. It’s one of those things where regardless of what position you play, regardless of where you are on the depth chart, we all can go out and pick somebody up when they’re down. That speaks volumes to the character of this team.”