New London — Nerves don't seem like they would be a problem for Coast Guard Academy kicker/punter Finnegan Hall.

A 6-foot-4 junior, Hall has enjoyed the adrenaline rush of cliff jumping as a hobby since he was in high school.

"Dive, flip, stuff like that," Hall said. "It's like 40 feet into the water. The higher ones are more fun."

He also has a reliable holder in tight end Cody Fidler and snapper for both field goals and punts in offensive lineman Jacob Vecchio.

It's just that Hall, when he first arrived as a freshman, needed some time to get the strength back in his legs after Swab Summer, a more than demanding eight-week indoctrination program for the academy's incoming cadets.

Hall was the backup at kicker to senior Patrick Crowley and the second string punter behind senior Liam Middleton om 2019. Slated to be the starter at both positions in 2020, Hall kicked in one game as the Bears played an abbreviated season due to COVID-19. He punted four times in Coast Guard's game against Merchant Marine, averaging 43.0 yards per kick and earning a spot on the D3football.com National Team of the Week.

Mainly, since he's arrived at Coast Guard, Hall has been concentrating on getting better. The Bears are 1-1, with Hall averaging 38.5 yards per punt and placing eight of 13 kicks inside the 20-yard line. He is 2-for-2 on field goal attempts, 2-for-3 on extra points.

In Week One following Coast Guard's 16-0 win at the University of New England, Hall was named New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Player of the Week.

Coast Guard will play its home opener at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against Nichols (2-0), the Bears' first home game in 672 days.

"I just remember back to him being a freshman and his ... call it Swab Summer legs," Coast Guard coach C.C. Grant said of Hall, "where I'm like, 'How the heck is this kid going to kick?' He was very inconsistent at that point in time and I was trying to help him.

"I remember times I was working with him, he'd be kicking the ball and he'd be hitting the ground and I'd be like, 'Holy moly.' I really think he wanted to be good. He probably thought, 'Hey, I don't understand what's wrong with me.' ... After going through (Swab Summer), his legs have probably never felt that way in his life and probably never ever will again."

Hall called last year's game against Merchant Marine a starting point.

"It, like, kind of showed me what I needed to do, like what a real game, how a college game was," Hall said. "I think a lot of it was consistency, just knowing what I need to do and getting it done."

Hall is originally from Martinsburg, West Virginia. He played soccer and football for three seasons at Hedgeville High School before choosing to focus on football as a senior, earning first team all-state honors. Hall, a mechanical engineering major, is one of seven children.

Grant said it's unusual to pass by Coast Guard's Cadet Memorial Field and not see Hall out there working at his craft. He spent the last three weeks of the summer aboard the training barque Eagle, but before that he was on campus.

"Last year, him coming back (as a sophomore), you could just see the time he would put in before practice, during practice," Grant said. "He's always kicking. He's always working on his game. ... Those are totally two different types of skills, punting and placekicking. To be good at both means you put a lot of time in."

This Coast Guard team is particularly young, with only two players who have started a complete season.

Grant called it "huge" for the team to be able to rely on Hall as a punter. With a long punt of 63 yards in Week One, Hall has the ability to flip the field and take pressure off the defense. One of the things he practices regularly is punting the ball down close to the goal line.

"It's all about timing," Hall said of that particular skill, "giving my runners time to get down there so they have time to down the ball. ... I always like to get better when I can and to get better you have to put the time in. That's what I'm trying to do."

v.fulkerson@theday.com