Hayden Cowden of Twin Falls signs with Portland State football
http://magicvalley.com/sports/high-school/hayden-cowden-of-twin-falls-signs-with-portland-state-football/article_9690d065-a994-578a-9413-4ec0cd21b93a.html?utm_content=bufferf2d87&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
TWIN FALLS – Hayden Cowden needed some time.
The 2016 Twin Falls High School graduate wanted to be a college kicker. He was fairly certain that he was good enough to be a college kicker. But he also had a late birthday, and graduated from Twin Falls at the age of 17. He needed to get bigger and stronger. So he took a year.
It paid off.
Cowden grew about three inches and put on 20 pounds over the past 12 months. In the process, he gained a Division I football offer from Portland State. On Wednesday, he had a signing ceremony at Twin Falls High School to make it official.
“He promoted himself. Buddies would film and catch for him and be his weight partner. But he did most of it on his own,” said Ben Kohring, Cowden’s father and a Bruins assistant football coach. “He built a lot of relationships and sustained them on his own.”
Kohring talked to a few junior colleges and had talked to the University of Nevada about a preferred walk-on opportunity. When he visited Portland State, however, his decision became easy.
“My senior year, I wasn’t sure if this was something I’d be able to do. I didn’t really have any offers, so I took a year to get better,” Cowden said.
During that time, he took classes at CSI and worked with coaches on the side. In Portland, he plans pursue a degree in physical therapy.
He follows in the footsteps of his uncle on his mother’s side, Bjorn Merten. Merten converted 21 of his 26 field goal attempts and was named an all-american kicker as a freshman at UCLA in 1993. The Bruins went on to lose to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl that season. Over his four-year career, Merten converted 68.7 percent of his field goal attempts.
When Merten would visit Twin Falls, kicking the pigskin was a natural topic of conversation.
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“When I decided to play football, I thought kicking would be the most fun thing for me, especially since I had some family who were really good at it,” Cowden said.
Cowden will join a Portland State squad that went 3-9 last season, including 2-6 in Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings two-time all-conference kicker, Jonathan Gonzales, graduated last spring.
The special teams coach at Portland State, Nick Whitworth, is rooted in Idaho. Kohring said he was known as the “Mackay Missile” in high school, and he went on to play and coach at Idaho State before moving on to Portland.
“It’s really fun to watch them chase their dreams and have all of these experiences that a lot of people don’t get to have,” Kohring said. “It multiplies being a father figure and a coach too, to be able to sit back and see that hard work pay off.”
http://magicvalley.com/sports/high-school/hayden-cowden-of-twin-falls-signs-with-portland-state-football/article_9690d065-a994-578a-9413-4ec0cd21b93a.html?utm_content=bufferf2d87&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
TWIN FALLS – Hayden Cowden needed some time.
The 2016 Twin Falls High School graduate wanted to be a college kicker. He was fairly certain that he was good enough to be a college kicker. But he also had a late birthday, and graduated from Twin Falls at the age of 17. He needed to get bigger and stronger. So he took a year.
It paid off.
Cowden grew about three inches and put on 20 pounds over the past 12 months. In the process, he gained a Division I football offer from Portland State. On Wednesday, he had a signing ceremony at Twin Falls High School to make it official.
“He promoted himself. Buddies would film and catch for him and be his weight partner. But he did most of it on his own,” said Ben Kohring, Cowden’s father and a Bruins assistant football coach. “He built a lot of relationships and sustained them on his own.”
Kohring talked to a few junior colleges and had talked to the University of Nevada about a preferred walk-on opportunity. When he visited Portland State, however, his decision became easy.
“My senior year, I wasn’t sure if this was something I’d be able to do. I didn’t really have any offers, so I took a year to get better,” Cowden said.
During that time, he took classes at CSI and worked with coaches on the side. In Portland, he plans pursue a degree in physical therapy.
He follows in the footsteps of his uncle on his mother’s side, Bjorn Merten. Merten converted 21 of his 26 field goal attempts and was named an all-american kicker as a freshman at UCLA in 1993. The Bruins went on to lose to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl that season. Over his four-year career, Merten converted 68.7 percent of his field goal attempts.
When Merten would visit Twin Falls, kicking the pigskin was a natural topic of conversation.
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“When I decided to play football, I thought kicking would be the most fun thing for me, especially since I had some family who were really good at it,” Cowden said.
Cowden will join a Portland State squad that went 3-9 last season, including 2-6 in Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings two-time all-conference kicker, Jonathan Gonzales, graduated last spring.
The special teams coach at Portland State, Nick Whitworth, is rooted in Idaho. Kohring said he was known as the “Mackay Missile” in high school, and he went on to play and coach at Idaho State before moving on to Portland.
“It’s really fun to watch them chase their dreams and have all of these experiences that a lot of people don’t get to have,” Kohring said. “It multiplies being a father figure and a coach too, to be able to sit back and see that hard work pay off.”
