Parkersburg High School kicker Casey Stanley, center front, signed with West Virginia University on Wednesday. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — It’s been a journey for Parkersburg High School senior Casey Stanley, but the 2022 triple-A first team all-state kicker is a West Virginia University Mountaineer following Wednesday’s national signing day.

“The walk-on life at WVU is exactly like the scholarship life except you are paying for school,” quipped Stanley, who was rarely off the field for the Big Reds of head man Matt Kimes and owns records with 72 kicking points in a season, 193 career kicking points and 19 career field goals. “(Ohio) gave me a preferred walk-on. As a kicker that’s what you need to get.

“They are not going to hand out scholarships to kickers they aren’t sure about yet. Kicking is an easy way to get on the field, but you are not going to get money going into college until you are the guy. I’m hoping being from a small town who supports WVU like no other I will be able to get some (NIL) deals here and there. That would be ideal and pretty cool.”

Stanley, who visited the Bobcats in Athens and even took in the Miami of Ohio game, actually missed the WVU kicking camp, but it all turned out for the best.

“Was obviously my place I wanted to go,” admitted the A-student and future business major.

“At first I wasn’t really getting looked at by them and I had kind of given up until this past summer.”

A follow on Twitter from Coastal Carolina’s special teams coordinator gave him another option and eventually set things in motion.

“It was a crazy coincidence because I had already planned to go to that camp over the summer and I hadn’t heard anything from WVU so I had some decision making to do. I got the text from WVU saying they wanted me up there.

“It honestly worked out better because at those camps a bunch of people go to the WVU camp. It’s harder to get looked at and it’s a lot more pressure. When you are in a group of four kids it’s a lot easier for them to see you and notice you and see what you are doing.”

As it turned out there were plenty of watchful eyes.

After getting to Morgantown with three other kickers the Big Red did his thing.

“I got there and they use a thing called a Trackman,” he said. “It’s nuts. I did really good in the kickoff aspect and I did OK in the field goals.

“I was kind of leaving there thinking I didn’t do bad. I gave them what I could. I was satisfied with how it was. I knew I was coming back in a couple days for the 7-on-7 they host.”

Everything picked up after arriving with his teammates for the 7-on-7s.

“I had played our first two games (WR/DB) and I got approached by Neal Brown actually,” Stanley recalled of the WVU head coach. “I was walking off because we had just got done with a game. He has this real nice golf cart he goes around in and he was sitting up against the front of that and I’m like ‘oh, man, that’s Neal Brown’ and we had made eye contact, and he waved me over. I was like ‘oh, is he pointing’ and I looked around. I was like ‘he’s talking to me, OK,’ and I walked over there and he goes ‘hey man you’re Casey Stanley, right?’ And I was like ‘yeah, I am, actually.'”

As it turned out coach Brown proceeded to tell him that “I was watching you guys the other day when you were kicking and I went back through the Trackman stuff and you’ve got the best kickoff numbers I’ve ever seen out of a high school kid. I was like, ‘wow, oh, OK.’ He said at the end of the day we’ll talk a little bit more about what we want from you. We finished the day and he talked to my mom (Susan) and I about coming back for a visit in July to kind of get going to see if I liked it and everything. I tried to contain myself because I was beside myself with excitement.”

One person who is not excited to see Stanley go is coach Kimes.

“He is one of the most athletic kids I’ve ever coached,” Kimes stated. “If he wanted to be a position player in college I’m confident that he could do that as well. I think he made a great decision choosing WVU because we all know how much West Virginia people love one of their own.

“Once he gets a little more consistent with his field goal accuracy he will compete for that spot. I won’t be surprised if he’s kicking off on Saturdays this season for a Top 25 ranked team. He will just continue to get better as he is developed as a specialist only type player.”

Stanley’s former Big Red teammate Quayvon Cyrus just finished his first season with the Mountaineers.

“I’ve got friends up at WVU so I’ve been there on game days,” Stanley added. “I’ve got to see ‘Q’ here and there. He said it’s definitely hard. It’s definitely hard. It’s like a job. He’s telling me to just put your time in. It’s made me feel a lot better talking to him because he’s gone through it.

“I get to kind of hear his side of it and what to expect and everything. Granted, I’m a kicker and he’s a defensive back so it’s a little bit of a difference, but it’s still the same stuff. I kind of got an idea of what I’m getting myself into and it’s nice to have him there to tell me that.”

Stanley is trying to look at the next chapter of his life along the same lines as when he arrived at PHS.

“I’m a little nervous because that’s Power 5 and it’s a business up there,” he said. “Like between class and having to be at the facility for eight hours a day it’s definitely going to be something different I’m not used to. I’m thinking if I just do everything right and keep my head on straight I’ll be alright. It’s all about putting your time in.

“Trying to build the trust with the program and just buy in as much as you can and that’s what I’m going to do my best at is just try to buy in and show them that I want to be there. That’s what I did coming in as a freshman at PHS, granted I was the only kicker whenever I got there so they had no choice but to play me.”

Despite being tempted to run track this spring, the Big Red is going to concentrate on getting his leg stronger, spend time with family and prep for WVU.

“I think I just want to take a couple months to myself and work on things I need to work on before I go up there,” continued Stanley, who replied when asked about his upcoming change of scenery “Morgantown, it’s definitely a place. It’s a place. I love Morgantown. I’ve been there quite a bit and I’ve just grown to love Morgantown. Everybody in the community is just backing WVU. It’s a big college town. It’s a fun place.

“It’s easy to get sidetracked on what your goals are there and fall into the wrong crowd. If you keep your head on straight I feel like it’s nothing but up for you from there because it’s a great place. I do love Morgantown a lot. I love Parkersburg. I’ve been here my whole life. Grown up to be a Big Red. Grown up to hate South. Whenever you’ve grown up in a community you love it no matter what. There’s nothing to do here, but you just love it.”

One record Stanley wasn’t able to surpass was the career long field goal of 50 yards owned by Tyler Warner.

The opportunity never really presented itself and Stanley’s longest career boot was 46 yards.

“It’s OK. I’ve got a couple records in,” he said. “I’ll let Tyler Warner keep the record, but it wasn’t that big of a deal to me to be honest.”

Stanley, who said he felt more than comfortable inside 55 yards, gave props to his holder and heir apparent to David Parsons at quarterback in junior Cooper Cancade.

“I was proud of that kid. He really stepped up,” Stanley said of Cancade. “He had just started doing it last year. He really stepped up.”

As a team, the Big Reds also stepped up and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

“A lot of things. Mainly just playing for your town,” Stanley responded when asked what he’ll remember about PHS when he’s old. “Playing with the Big Reds across your chest. That’s just an unreal feeling and running out of the helmet on Fridays and look up in the stands and see your town right there cheering you on. High school you are playing with dudes you’re brothers with. Like you’ve grown up with. That’s the best part is you’re a family.

“I think this year we kind of emphasized that a lot because we knew it was our last year and we were kind of not wanting it to end so we were making the best of every situation. We really loved each other a lot this year. The one thing I’ll remember most about PHS football is the brotherhood and the family that was with it whenever we were playing. We were playing for each other. Nobody was playing for themselves.”

Stanley will have the chance to win the kickoff job and start for the Mountaineers this fall.

“If I’m not it’s no problem because usually freshmen don’t start their first year there,” Stanley said while adding he couldn’t have done it without the support of his father Steve. “A year in the program would do me good. The opportunity is there.

“I would like to thank my dad a lot. He’s put just as much work as me into this to be kicking in college. It was pretty exciting to see his reaction whenever I got the call. It was a good day. We hugged it out and everything because we were in it together.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com