Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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16 CAVALIER CORNER BY BRAD FRANKLIN T hough it doesn't always work out this way, sometimes jour- neys find people rather than the other way around. The universe has a tendency to occasion- ally decide that a path ahead is set out for somebody. They have to put in the work, of course. But when that happens, everything seems to line up. When Lester Coleman ran out prior to his first game as a punter at the University of Virginia, he was running through a tunnel he never expected to enter, let alone exit. He was, in essence, on a journey that found him. As he looked up at the stands that day, the Martinsville native felt himself relax. "I never thought this day would come," he remembers thinking, "so I might as well just enjoy it." Now, the 6-5, 245-pounder, on the heels of a second-team All-ACC season in 2017, is one of the league's best punters and is a semifinalist for the prestigious Campbell Trophy, which is given annually to the best student-athlete in all of college football and is known as the "Academic Heisman." How exactly he became one of the con- ference's best punters, though, is quite the story. In fact, Coleman didn't even play football until his junior year of high school and he didn't punt until just prior to his senior year when an injury to a teammate opened the job at Woodberry Forest. His coach knew that Coleman's older brother, James, was a punter at Virginia so he asked if he would try to punt. The rest was history, or at least the sort of history that changes one's path. "My dream and my goal was to come to UVA," Coleman said. "I wanted to come whether football worked or not. And it just so happened my older brother was the punter on the football team and so really I got to join the team as a walk-on because of him. "He was in good standing with the coaches. But I was never a recruit. I never even took a visit or really anything like that. I just kind of showed up on day one. "As far my career, I mean, obviously it's turned out really well. But I would say like 80 percent the time it doesn't work out this way. Honestly, maybe 90, 95 percent of time. I'm just extremely lucky to be in the position I am in and certainly it comes from hard work, but there was some luck with it too. "Right place, right time and working hard. That was big." Last year, Coleman led the ACC with 23 punts of 50 yards or more en route to rank- ing fourth in the league in average (43.7 yards per punt). He also finished second in the conference and seventh nationally with 29 punts that were placed inside the 20-yard line, plus set the school record for most 60- yard punts with six. That it was his first year on the field, after redshirting in 2014 and then not appearing in any games in 2015 and 2016, speaks volumes about the lightning he caught in a bottle. "If you had asked me my first year, my second year, my third year, do you think you would be a starter, on scholarship, All- ACC second team, I would have told you no chance," Coleman said with a laugh. "I was just hoping to maybe play one day, you know? Play a couple snaps or something. "But it's worked out really well." Off the field, Coleman didn't know ex- actly what he wanted to study when he first arrived on Grounds, but he was drawn to business and he remains drawn to it still. "I really enjoyed taking the economics classes, so I ended up majoring in econ and I feel like it's such a good major because you can go so many different ways with it," he said. "So right now I'm doing the Batten Public Policy and Leadership master's, which is a two-year program so I'll actually be back next year assuming nothing happens with the NFL, which I definitely will give a shot. "But in terms of what I want to do after, I've had a cool experience the past two sum- mers. I've worked for a hedge fund down- town, which is managed by Tim Mullen, who played basketball for UVA back in the 1980s. I developed a great friendship with him and he's been a great mentor and it's provided me with an awesome internship while I had to be in Charlottesville." His work off the field is a big reason why he's a candidate for the Campbell Trophy, a prestigious award won last year by UVA linebacker Micah Kiser. "I think Micah did a great job of using the platform of being a student-athlete and giving back to this community while per- forming at a high level and while being a great student in the classroom," he said. "To win that trophy, to be a great person, to help your community, to be a great student and to be a great football player, that's an incredible person. "I'm so honored to even be nominated." Having grown up as an avid sports fan and considering he didn't get into football until later in his youth, Coleman still has to sort of laugh when he recounts the way things have gone for him. "I was kind of getting into my senior year," he said, "and realizing like, 'Wow, you know what? My athletic career might be done,' and I thought, 'Well, maybe I should try this punting thing a little more because I think I could probably do that if I practiced it.' "And sure enough, it kind of happened." His easy-going nature might be one of the reasons he's performed at such a high level in such a short amount of time. Either way, though, Coleman can both appreciate how fortunate he is while also making sure to be himself and stay low key. "People think I'm joking, but there's no chance I would be on this football team had my brother not been on it," he said with a laugh. "No way. And then as far as the in- ternship goes, that was just great too. "I'd like to think I'm a nice guy and I think when you're a nice person and you work hard, good things happen." RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME Lester Coleman's Emergence Is A Story About Making The Most Of Your Chances