Aussie beast Louis Hedley is the rarest case where the man underneath the tattoos is actually more fascinating than the ink he shows to the world.

The 26-year-old from Mandurah’s head is still spinning from his fairytale 48 hours where he became the first talent to sign for the University of Miami on college football’s national signing day.

The former WAFL-level footballer and scaffolding construction worker has been stunned by the crazy reception and interest in his story both here and in the United States — where he has emerged as an immediate cult hero for Miami as the so-called “most intimidating punter you’ve ever seen”, according to The New York Post.

The only problem is, it’s all wrong.

“People are caught up in this wild warrior story, but the reality is he’d be the first guy to training. He’d do a full day of work. Then come to training,” Hedley’s mentor and Prokick Australia’s head punting coach Nathan Chapman said.

“Anybody who knows Louis knows how much he deserves all of this.”

Unfortunately, the portrayal of the scariest man on the planet isn’t all that America has got wrong so far.

The truth is he’s actually much scarier-looking in real life. Hedley has bulked up more than 15kg since moving away from his Aussie rules career a few years ago and now tips the scales at 108kg — much heavier than the 97.5kg mark he’s been listed at in scouting reports across the US.

In that same time that he has transformed his body, Hedley has also transformed his career and his life.

It is all the result of an impossible gamble to give up everything he knew in Western Australia to chase the merest whisper of an NFL career.

That gamble is already paying off. His official acceptance of a full scholarship offer from Miami is the stuff of dreams.

Hedley said his official signing document shows that his full scholarship is worth more than $330,000 (across the three years of his college career).

It is a life-changing week for him. Even if his dream of an NFL career doesn’t eventuate — he’s already made it.

HOW ON EARTH DOES A SCAFFOLDER BECOME AN NFL PLAYER?

media_camera Louis Hedley wants to become the next Aussie-NFL success story

For Hedley, it all started with a few words from Peel Thunder teammate and former Carlton star Paul Bower.

“We just used to hang around at training and kick spirals together,” Hedley said.

“He just said: ‘Man, you should really give this a shot. You’ve definitely got a future’.

“He said the junior college part is pretty s***, but after that it’ll all be worth it.”

Bower’s prediction turned out to be bang on — he just didn’t mention the part about the crazy costs involved.

It was more than three years ago when Hedley gave up everything to move to Melbourne to begin working with Prokick — working most days before training three times as week with Chapman and his team.

Hedley is just the latest success story for Prokick’s punting academy, which is churning out Aussie college scholarship winners and professional footballers at a record rate.

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. It never is.

After six months in Melbourne learning the punting craft, Hedley made the move to play the 2017 college football season with City College of San Francisco before red-shirting (sitting out) last season.

After six semesters in San Francisco, Hedley had coughed up $68,000 ($US48,000) in tuition alone. Then there were all the other costs that come with living in one of America’s most expensive cities.

The budget he’d created from the savings left from his eight years as a scaffolder and a brief stint owning a tattoo shop in Bali was at breaking point.

Luckily for him, everyone in his university sharehouse was in the same boat.

“I was literally living like a teenager again,” Hedley said.

“I was budgeting about $100 per week, trying not to use much money up because school over in California is pretty expensive.

“The bad thing over there is that the bad food is pretty much the cheapest. All the dirty food is cheap as chips and the healthy stuff is heaps expensive. When it came to it, we were just pigging out.”

TRANSFORMING FROM A SKINNY FOOTBALLER INTO A BEAST

media_camera Louis Hedley lived in the gym.

Siting out the 2018 season ended up being a godsend. Instead of playing he instead chose to live in the gym — bulking up into the powerful frame that has attracted attention from all over the world.

The lighter Aussie rules footballer from three years ago isn’t so easy to recognise in the frame of the explosive punter he has become.

All the running he used to do has been replaced by the strong room. The difference for Hedley is that his weights routine is nothing like that of the average aspiring punter.

He has been taking his lessons from the offensive line coach in San Francisco.

While maintaining his focus on leg and hip flexibility, Hedley’s upper body routine has followed the crazy iron-pumping one-rep max lifts his monstrous front line teammates have followed to turn into some of the scariest footballers on the planet.

He doesn’t plan on stopping his upper body building any time soon.

THE TATTOOS EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

Hedley has a giggle every time he gets asked about his fancy ink.

Starting with his first tattoo as a 16-year-old, he’s never looked back. He does admit, however, that things might have got a little bit crazy when he owned his own tattoo shop in Bali a few years ago.

“I used to love it,” he said. “I got a bit too excited when I had the tattoo shop and I could get them for free.”

It’s why his next tattoo needs to be meticulously planned. The only space free on his canvass is on his back. The arms, legs, neck and torso are already covered.

He is still going to find a spot somewhere in the next 12 months to add the University of Miami emblem to his already impressive ink collection.

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

media_camera This is not your local micro-brewer.

Hedley says he intends to complete all three years of college in Miami before nominating for the NFL draft as a senior.

Even if he goes unselected in the draft he will keep hunting a spot on an NFL roster through free agency.

He is totally committed to the NFL, despite intending to complete his degree in sports administration.

Before he even thinks of the NFL, however, he promises to work his butt off for Miami.

He also wants to immediately improve his deceiving statline.

His season in San Francisco was manipulated by harsh crosswinds and swirling breezes that restricted him to an average of just over 38-yards per punt. Playing in Miami’s iconic Hard Rock Stadium, which has a capacity of 65,000, he is expecting his punting stats to take a steady hike.

Perhaps by then the world will be taking just as much notice of his punts as they have of his tattoo gambles?

Probably not.

“All those people saying ‘he’s scary’ — I’m probably always going to cop that with the way I look, but it couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.

“A lot of people see a picture of me and paint a picture straight away, but, it’s the complete opposite. I’m everything they’re sort of not saying. It’s a good laugh. At the end of the day, the people that know me, they know the real me.”

Originally published as US’s big mistake over scary Aussie beast