For redshirt-junior kicker Casey Legg, being a Mountaineer means just a little more.
The Charleston, West Virginia, native had a childhood dream that many other West Virginia kids grow up with — to play for the Mountaineers one day.
“Growing up loving WVU football, I would kick game-winning field goals in my basement, and I didn’t even play football,” Legg said.
That dream of Legg’s appeared to be fictional for much of his adolescence, as soccer became his main sport of choice.
“I’m a soccer player at heart really,” Legg said. “I started playing when I was four and played that all the way up through high school.”
Legg attended Cross Lanes Christian School during his high school years, but with the Warriors not having a football program, Legg kept playing soccer.
Despite not suiting up in shoulder pads and a helmet, Legg did not limit himself to just soccer balls throughout high school.
In his senior year at Cross Lanes Christian, Legg decided he wanted to kick a football, just to see if he was capable.
Legg was more than capable and found a football connection in former WVU kickoff specialist and punter Michael Molinari.
Through that relationship, Legg was able to kick in WVU football camps, and walk on in 2018 as a place kicker.
Legg saw action in one game in 2018, kicking an extra point in a blowout win over Baylor.
Through 2019 and 2020, Legg established himself as a capable Big 12 kicker, but he really separated himself from the competition in the 2021 season.
In 2021, Legg won the job as the starting kicker, and proved why it belonged to him. Legg finished the season hitting 19-of-23 field goal attempts, going a perfect 35-of-35 on extra point attempts and had six multi-field goal games.
That steadiness earned Legg a scholarship halfway through the season, but the recognition didn’t stop there. After the 2021 season was finished, Legg received national attention, earning All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors as well as being named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.
Legg is still building on his resume, as the Charleston native is 11-of-11 on field goal attempts in the 2022 season.
Legg also got a chance to fulfill that childhood fantasy of kicking a game-winning field goal for the old gold and blue, when his number was called in the final minute against No. 23 Baylor.
Legg came out for the 22-yard field goal with the game in his hands and executed the kick to perfection.
After the win over Baylor, Legg spoke on what helps him stay calm in a pressure-packed moment like that.
“It helps me when I’m kicking consistently and being able to get out there early in the game really calms me down and settles my nerves,” Legg said. “It’s exciting when I get there, especially late in the game.”
Legg was also asked if he ever thought this day would come; kicking a game-winning field goal for the Mountaineers.
“A 10-year-old me would have been like, ‘Oh yeah, I’d definitely be doing that,’ but when I look at reality and look how God put this together, there’s no way, and I’m super thankful for that,” Legg said. “I was thinking that, even before the kick, after there were a few timeouts, just the gift and the opportunity to play for WVU because that’s my home, was something really sweet. In reality, no, I could have never dreamed of it.”
