Joseph Jaksa | The Prove-It Season

A 2027 combo specialist from Bishop Miege, Joseph Jaksa is trying to turn a fast rise, a big leg, and one year

of serious specialist work into senior-season proof college coaches can trust.

TURNING POTENTIAL INTO PROOF

Joseph Jaksa did not start this path with a polished specialist resume.

He started with a ball on a tee, a halftime crowd, and a chance to hit a 45-yard field goal for $5,000.

No real training. No long history of kicking lessons. No perfect mechanics already built into place.

He came up about four yards short.

That miss could have ended as a funny halftime memory. Instead, it became something else. It became the

moment Joseph realized there might be more in his leg than he knew.

“That one moment at halftime was a big reason why I started kicking.”

Early the next summer, he started training with Trace Rudd. What followed was not instant, and it was not easy.

But it moved fast enough to show Joseph something important: potential is only the beginning. The rest has to be

built.

THE FOUR YARDS THAT STARTED IT

The kick at Bishop Miege was not supposed to become the start of a recruiting story.

It was a halftime opportunity. A 45-yarder. A shot at $5,000. Joseph had not spent years training as a kicker, but

when the ball came off his foot and landed just short, people noticed. His friends noticed. His parents noticed.

Joseph noticed too.

That is where the curiosity started.

He had always been an athlete. Soccer had given him a strong leg and a feel for striking a ball. Basketball helped

him stay explosive. Baseball taught him how to handle moments where the result sits on one player in one

specific instant.

Kicking pulled those pieces together in a new way.

It gave him a place where one swing could decide the moment, but only if the work had been done long before the

ball was snapped, placed, or teed up.

MORE THAN A SOCCER SWING

Joseph’s soccer background gave him a foundation, but it did not give him a finished football swing.

That was one of the first lessons.

The early kicking sessions were harder than he expected. He could not simply bring a soccer swing to the football

field and expect consistency to follow. He had to rebuild pieces of the motion. He had to learn how to drive

through the ball differently. He had to understand that a strong leg was useful, but repeatable contact mattered

more.

Trace Rudd became his first coach in that process, helping him understand technique from the ground up. One of the

first major points was simple but important: go downfield, get up and through the ball, and trust the shape of the

swing.

Joseph listened. He applied. He started seeing results.

“I trusted what Trace told me, applied it into my game, and it’s been working.”

A FAST LEARNER, NOT A FINISHED PRODUCT

Joseph’s rise has happened quickly, but the quick rise should not be confused with an easy one.

He earned a 4.5-star rating as both a kicker and punter after his first Kohl’s camp, and shortly after, Benedictine

offered him at school. Those moments gave him belief. They also raised the standard.

The recognition told him the path was real. It did not tell him the work was done.

That is why Joseph’s story carries more energy than comfort. He is grateful for the opportunities already in front of

him, including three offers, but he is still chasing the right fit and the level he believes his work can reach.

He knows there is more proof to put on film.

THE SEASON THAT HAS TO SHOW IT

This senior season matters because Joseph understands how recruiting works for specialists.

Camps help. Conversations help. Ratings can help. But senior film still matters, and he knows this is the year

when college coaches need to see the work translate on Friday nights.

That is why he describes the season as “now or never.”

He is not saying that out of panic. He is saying it because he understands the moment in front of him. This is the

season where potential has to become trust. This is the season where a big leg has to become game film. This is

the season where he wants to prove he can be called on and deliver.

Joseph is honest about last year. By his own standard, 4-for-9 on field goals was not good enough.

That honesty matters. He is not hiding from the number. He is using it.

“I want to prove that I can be called on to make a kick.”

BUILT BY PRESSURE

The pressure part of Joseph’s story did not start with football.

Baseball helped shape that part of him. He describes baseball as a team sport that can feel very individual in the

biggest moments. When you are at the plate, it is on you. When a ball is hit your way, you have to make the play.

That mindset translates naturally to kicking.

There is an operation. There is protection. There are teammates doing their jobs. But when the ball is down,

Joseph understands the truth of the role: the kick belongs to him.

That is part of why he has been drawn to the specialist path. He likes the challenge. He likes the responsibility. He

likes the chance to prove that the work can hold up when the moment gets loud.

THE SOUND OF CLEAN CONTACT

The biggest improvement Joseph has felt this offseason is contact.

Not just on field goals. On kickoffs. On punts. Across the combo profile, he says the ball now sounds different off

his foot. The height has improved. The contact has sharpened. The confidence has grown because the movement

is becoming more repeatable.

That development has come through coaching and quick application.

One example stayed with him. A coach noticed his front leg was not staying straight enough through the kick.

Joseph took the correction, focused on it, and within a few kicks the ball was straighter, higher, and cleaner.

That is the kind of response coaches look for. Not just talent. Not just a rating. The ability to hear something, fix

something, and make the result better.

COMBO VALUE

Joseph is not trying to build a one-role profile.

He wants to be a combo specialist, someone who can help a program in multiple phases. Field goals. Kickoffs.

Punts. Different demands. Different rhythms. Different pressure points.

Right now, kickoffs are where he feels the most trust. He likes the freedom of it. He likes being able to run up to

the ball and let the leg go.

“Coach just lets me rip it.”.

Punting is where he is still pushing hardest. He wants more consistency, cleaner turnover, and a faster operation

before the rush can affect the play.

That balance is part of the story. Joseph is not presenting himself as complete. He is presenting himself as

serious. He knows what he trusts, and he knows what he still has to sharpen.

THE MIEGE STANDARD

Bishop Miege matters in Joseph’s story.

He describes the program as a family: coaches, players, and fans all pushing toward something together. The

expectations are high, and Joseph does not run from that. He sees it as part of the standard.

At Miege, the environment does not ask an athlete to be casual about the work. It asks him to live up to the

moment or fall short of it.

That is the energy Joseph wants in college too: a competitive program, coaches who believe in him, teammates

who can become lifelong friends, and a culture that makes the game feel bigger than one player.

LEARNING THE RECRUITING SIDE

Joseph has also started learning that recruiting is not only about posting film and waiting.

Through his OTU Recruiting Guidance session with his parents, he says he learned to value conversations, ask

better questions, listen more closely, and understand when a coach is truly interested.

That matters for a specialist.

A kicker or punter can have the leg and still miss the process. Joseph is learning that the next level requires both:

better film and better conversations. Better work and better awareness. Better performance and better

understanding of what coaches are actually telling him.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WORK

Joseph’s parents have been with him through the full climb.

They have driven to camps. They have helped him get private lessons. They have supported the work before the

payoff was clear. Joseph knows that matters.

He wants to reach the next level not only because he believes he can play there, but because he wants the people

who sacrificed for him to see that the investment meant something.

“I just want to make it to the next level to show them that their sacrifice wasn’t for nothing.”

WHAT COMES NEXT

Joseph is grateful for the offers he already has, but he is still chasing the right opportunity.

He wants the fit to match the work. He wants a program that believes in him, a culture that feels like Miege, and a

chance to prove that his fast development is only the start of what he can become.

The next step is clear.

Turn the senior season into proof. Make the film match the potential. Show coaches the leg, the accuracy from

distance, the kickoff power, the combo value, and the teammate behind it all.

Joseph’s message to another athlete newer to the specialist path is direct: the work has to come first. You cannot

expect a coach to just find you. You have to put yourself out there. You have to train. You have to keep the right

mindset.

Potential can open a door. Work is what keeps it open.

FINAL WORD

Joseph Jaksa’s story starts four yards short.

That is what makes it work.

He did not step into kicking as a finished product. He stepped into it with a strong leg, a competitive background,

and enough curiosity to find out what could happen if he trained for real.

Now the moment is bigger.

He has a rating. He has offers. He has people who believe in him. He has a program standard around him at

Bishop Miege. He has a family that has invested in the path. He has one senior season to show what all of it looks

like under the lights.

That is the prove-it season.

Not because Joseph has nothing.

Because he believes there is more.

“Put in the work. Put yourself out there. Turn potential into proof.”