For Steven Hauschka, kicking a football is a lot like hitting a golf ball.

It takes a smooth swing, confidence and doing the “same thing on every single shot.”

And that’s why the graduate student in parks, recreation and tourism management watches and learns from Tiger Woods.

“Look at professional golfers. They don’t swing hard. Tiger Woods doesn’t have to go out there; he doesn’t have to kill the ball,” he said. “Sometimes he does. You definitely just need to swing smooth.”

Hauschka, who will have one year of eligibility to play for N.C. State, didn’t even play football in high school. Nor did he play during his freshman season at Middlebury College. He was a soccer player, and he only joined the football team because his friends begged him to give it a try.

So he spent three years as the kicker at Middlebury College. In his first year, he went 10-for-12 with a long of 41 yards. His 10 field goals broke the Middlebury record.

After graduating this spring from Middlebury College, he had one remaining year of eligibility. And because of the NCAA’s graduate transfer rule, which allows him to go to another school and not sit out a year since he graduated, he can suit up for the Wolfpack this season.

Coach Tom O’Brien said Hauschka approached his staff when at Boston College.

“We knew about him — he had contacted us while we were at Boston College,” O’Brien said. “We had a few kicking woes last year at BC, so it was an interest to us.”

When O’Brien made the move to Raleigh, he said he knew State was in a position where it had very little kicking experience. With Hauschka, it has a kicker who has three years experience under his belt. And according to Hauschka, a kicker that can boot one from “50 yards or so.”

“I’m confident with my leg strength — that’s never been a problem,” he said.

O’Brien said he heard the stories about Hauschka’s strength.

“Here’s a kid that the people where he came from, thought he had a big league leg. But he wasn’t really [thinking] that he could make it to the NFL level. He wanted to kick at a competition at this level,” O’Brien said. “He’s got a very strong leg. He’s very a confident kid, a mature kid. And I think all those go into play — especially if you’re going to be a kicker.”

However, this season won’t be anything like the past few seasons, Hauschka said. At Middlebury College, he played in front of 3,000 people — now it’s nearly 20 times that number.

“That’s going to be an adrenaline rush,” he said. “That’s something I’ve thought about for a while.”

Hauschka never heard from the coaches about the starting place kicker position — he looked at the depth chart and just saw he was the starter. Special teams coach Jerry Petercuskie said the coaches still haven’t decided on who will do kickoffs.

O’Brien had another odd situation last season with Boston College kicker Steve Aponavicius. Aponavicius earned the nickname “Sid Vicious” after he started his first game against Virginia Tech — his first-ever organized football game.

“He was a walk-on that we found kicking in the stadium when our [graduate assistant] was walking across, he used to see him at night. We had him come out [for] a year, and we had a little problem with kickers, so we made the switch to Sid Vicious,” O’Brien said. “He’s going to be on a Disney movie someday.”

But Hauschka has experience. And the coaches believe he has done enough in his previous years and in practice to earn the starting job, but Petercuskie said anything can happen when he steps onto the field Saturday night.

“It’s when I put that tea-bag in the water, I’m not sure how it’s going to taste,” Petercuskie said.