As a freshman last season, Sean O’Haire was perfect for Richmond, converting all 12 field goal attempts and nine extra point tries. But none of those kicks came with the game on the line.

But the 6-foot-1, 180-pound O’Haire is prepared to do so for Maryland if the situation calls for it.

“I came here to kick,” he said confidently. “I guess I’d be doing it wrong if I wasn’t excited for that stuff.”

The Terps would probably welcome that attitude from O’Haire. After the team lost incumbent Jack Howes to Buffalo via the transfer portal in April, redshirt sophomore Ryan Capriotti handled kicking duties during the spring game before O’Haire arrived in May.

O’Haire’s transfer, however, was not smooth. Several days after his departure, Spiders coach Russ Huesman accused Maryland of tampering with O’Haire and convincing him to leave by offering him $50,000.

“It’s ridiculous, pretty frustrating,” Huesman told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Neither Terps coach Mike Locksley nor special teams coordinator Andre Powell were made available for comment. But O’Haire did not begrudge his former coach for publicly airing his exasperations with the circumstances surrounding his transfer.

“I get it,” he said. “He’s a good guy, and he doesn’t like the portal and stuff, which is completely fair. So it was nothing against him.”

As for that $50,000 offer? O’Haire replied simply, “No, that’s not true.”

O’Haire is part of a recent wave of Irish kickers from a private training club called Leader Kicking who have transitioned to American football. Ross Bolger (Idaho State) and Ronan Patterson (Monmouth) were the first graduates to cross the Atlantic Ocean, Rory Beggan and Mark Jackson were invited in 2024 to rookie camps with the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, and Charlie Smyth is currently competing for the New Orleans Saints’ starting job.

Besides O’Haire, four other kickers from Leader Kicking are playing in college: Rutgers sophomore Jack Scullion, Boston College freshman Andy Quinn, Troy junior Paddy McAteer and Missouri Valley Community College sophomore Bruno Kincaid Ruiz.

O’Haire got his start in Gaelic football, which blends pieces of soccer, basketball, and American and Australian football. One aspect of Gaelic football mirrors a free kick in soccer, which O’Haire excelled in.

“I was open to it,” he said of trying his hand in American football. “I wasn’t exactly like, ‘Oh, my God, this would be great,’ but I was thinking, ‘I might as well give it a go.’”

O’Haire began training with Tadhg Leader, founder of Leader Kicking, after graduating from high school in 2023. Within a year, he accepted a scholarship to kick at Richmond.

McAteer, who has known O’Haire since May 2024, said O’Haire’s talent was obvious.

“It was off the charts,” McAteer said. “His consistency and ball striking, he always had the same powerful connection. In my opinion, every shot he had went over the bar. I thought, ‘This is probably the best competition I’m going to have when I go to D-I college football.’ So it’s definitely a testament to Sean and his hard work.”

Living abroad for the first time and away from family and friends was tough initially.

And for the first half of the season, O’Haire had to bide his time as he ranked second on the depth chart behind redshirt senior Brandon Peskin.

“At first, I wasn’t playing,” he said. “So I just kind of was a sideline figure. Obviously, as a kicker, there’s not too much to figure out. So it wasn’t too bad. I think I had to figure out the whole game and the way it all works. That was probably difficult, but I got there eventually.”

After his debut with the Spiders, O’Haire said that he started to consider moving from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

“In the spring, I entered the portal because I believed I could play at a high level,” he said. “Coming all the way over here, I should obviously try to get as far as I possibly can. I should give it 100%. I believed I could get to somewhere like Maryland.”

Redshirt senior long snapper Ethan Gough said the Terps specialists have spent some time getting acquainted with each other through golf, cornhole and meals at Chipotle. Gough said he has been impressed by O’Haire’s technique.

“He’s got a very fast approach,” Gough said. “When it comes to going back and getting set up for his kick, he’s not back there doing a checklist of multiple different things and all that. He’s really just getting back into his stance, and he’s ready to go, and that’s all he thinks about. Some guys are more successful when it comes to having a checklist and just (thinking), ‘OK, did I do this? Did I do this?’ But Sean knows his job. He knows what he’s got to do and puts himself in the best position to do that.”

Maryland has had three kickers selected in the NFL draft, including Chad Ryland in 2023, who spent last season with the Arizona Cardinals. Going pro is an eventual option for O’Haire, but he said his most immediate priority is helping the Terps succeed.

“I’ve got to worry about where I am right now,” he said. “I’m just focused on getting myself right here. That seems to be the best thing to do.”

Gough said he doesn’t anticipate any problems for O’Haire making the switch to Big Ten competition.

“He’s just got to treat it the same way that he’s treated it in the past,” he said. “The uprights are the same size, the fields are the same lengths. So there’s no reason to treat either one any different than the other.”

Count McAteer as another believer in O’Haire.

“I think he’s gonna dominate,” he said. “He’s only one of the couple of first real Irish kickers to come through. He’s going to be playing Big Ten ball — him and Jack. They’re going to be playing against Michigan and Ohio State, for example. I feel like this is only going to be the start.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.