MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A dream that turned into reality for West Virginia kicker Casey Legg has come to an end.
Legg announced he will not return as the Mountaineers’ kicker and will retire from football altogether.
“I am officially retired,” Legg said. “A moment that sticks out in my mind — I think it was the Baylor game. I was on the field warming up, then I had looked up and around at all the fans at Milan Puskar Stadium, and soaked it all in for a minute. I had decided I did not want to play anywhere else. I’m thinking even NFL level. For me, I had reached the top of the top. At that moment, I decided I wasn’t going to pursue the NFL. I didn’t think it would be as meaningful to me as WVU football is.”
Legg appeared in 37 games from 2018-2022 and made 40-of-49 field goals. He made 88-of-90 point-after attempts and was perfect in that department until two misses in the 2022 home finale against Kansas State.
This season, Legg was 14-of-15 on field-goal attempts and made game-winners against Baylor and Oklahoma.
“I reached the heights,” he said. “When I think about the Baylor game and Oklahoma game, those were the heights of my football career and I was content with those. That was a moment I decided I wasn’t going to be pursue the NFL and was going to just be a WVU football player. I felt content and at peace with my career. That was a moment that sticks out to me that I was going to be close to deciding that I was done.”
Last season, Legg was a Lou Groza semifinalist after making 19-of-23 field goals.
Legg played soccer all his life and was a standout soccer player at Cross Lanes Christian School, which doesn’t have as a football program. While kicking at Laidley Field, he developed a relationship with former Mountaineer punter and Parkersburg native Michael Molinari.
Molinari helped Legg land a spot on the Mountaineer roster in 2018 as a walk-on under then-head coach Dana Holgorsen. Legg appeared in only one contest while redshirting in 2018.
When Holgorsen left for the head-coaching job at Houston after the 2018 season, Legg continued on at WVU under head coach Neal Brown and a new staff.
Legg came into the college spotlight in 2019 following a season-ending injury to Evan Staley.
His first action as WVU’s kicker came over the season’s final five games. Brown took a chance on Legg late in a 2019 contest at Kansas State and he delivered with a 51-yard field goal — the only 50-plus yard field goal of Legg’s career.
Legg finished 2-of-4 on field goals in 2019 and then split kicking duties with Staley in the COVID-interrupted 2020 campaign. That year, Legg finished 5-of-7 on field goals.
“I cannot imagine playing anywhere else,” Legg said. “Obviously, with how my career panned out, it proved that I would not have imagined playing anywhere else. After going through some ups and downs, getting benched, and dealing with that process, I would have rather stayed at WVU and not played. That was a personal decision I made as an in-state kid who loved WVU football and that is not a knock on anyone.”
Legg, who had one season of eligibility remaining, made 33-of-38 field goals over his final two seasons and was put on scholarship in October 2021.
In May, he is set to earn a Master’s degree in business.
“I loved it,” Legg stated. “I remember my childhood and I did not play football. However, it was still my dream. I still dreamed about scoring the game-winning touchdown or hitting the field goal. That is the impact that WVU football has on people. It gives them hope, and it gave me hope as a little kid when I ran around in my basement in a Pat White jersey. Having that joy as a kid and being able to live that out, I am thankful for that.”