AUBURN, Ala. — Life has a funny way of bringing everything full circle; it's just a matter of being patient during the ride.
In the Pleasant Valley neighborhood of Little Rock, Ark., sits Pulaski Academy, which rose to internet stardom earlier in the decade when head coach Kevin Kelley was profiled as "The Coach Who Never Punts" and conducted onside kicks after every score.
That's where Will Hastings' story begins.
Hastings grew up with a love for soccer and played the sport until his junior season of high school. For the prior three years, he had juggled both sport schedules after coming to an agreement as an eighth-grader that he'd be allowed to miss football practice and go to soccer practice.
With his focus on one sport, Hastings became just the second receiver in Arkansas history to gain 2,000 yards in a season when he was credited with 2,040 receiving yards his senior year en route to helping the Bruins win their second state title in four years.
The stats weren't enough, however. Only four schools — Henderson State, Missouri Western State, Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas — offered him a scholarship to play football at the next level. But the quartet of schools didn't want Hastings as a wide receiver. They recruited him to be a unique kind of kicker, which is also what piqued Auburn's interest.
"Honestly, Auburn was the only place that gave me a chance," Hastings recalls. "Nowhere else said, 'Hey, we want you as a preferred walk-on.' The night before I had to decide, those smaller schools were texting and calling me saying they needed to know something.
"After I talked with my dad, I drove around then, took matters into my own hands and called Coach (Scott) Fountain and asked if there was any room possible at Auburn. He said, 'Yeah, I was actually going to call you tomorrow to see if you wanted to be a preferred walk-on'."
At that moment, Hastings felt "everything fall into place."
Hastings arrived at Auburn as a walk-on kicker and backed up All-American Daniel Carlson for the 2016 season. He appeared in only two games that season: a kickoff attempt in the third quarter at LSU — one that went 29 yards — and the following week against Mississippi State when the Tigers needed an onside kick attempt in the closing minutes of the game.
"Mississippi State was really bad and LSU was so-so," says Hastings of his two kick attempts as a freshman. "After that, they were like, 'You're done being a kicker,' and they needed some bodies at receiver for the spring.
"I went out there and tried. I just remember doing the best I could and trying to work as hard as I could. That summer came and we were doing the pro agilities and that's kind of what caught their eye and they opted to give me another try at the position."
As that summer turned to fall, Hastings continued to work. He worked so much so that he saw game action in the 2016 season opener game against Clemson.
With 1:39 left in the first quarter in a 0-0 tie with then-No. 2 Clemson, quarterback Jeremy Johnson motioned Hastings, who was lined up behind Darius Slayton following a timeout, towards the offensive line. On a 3rd-and-7 play, the closest Clemson defender was eight yards off at the snap, so when Hastings made his cut out after five yards, there was no time to deflect Johnson's pass.
Hastings caught the ball two yards short of the first-down marker, but a quick spin-move as an approaching defender went in for the tackle gave Auburn a first down. He moved the sticks for a second time on the drive when he hauled in another pass from Johnson for 10 yards on a 3rd-and-10 play to start the second quarter.
The drive ultimately ended with a 53-yard field goal by Carlson.
Hastings made his presence known, again, when he caught a down pass from Sean White for 11 yards on a 4th-and-4 at the Clemson 18-yard line to give Auburn a goal-to-go situation.
"I think that moment — 2016 against Clemson — changed everything," Hastings remembers. "It's weird, because in an instance … in a minute, your life could change and I never thought about that. I used to think people were kind of losers for saying that phrase. But, in that instance, in that first time, catching the ball really did change my life.
"My life, after that, was altered."
A week later against Arkansas State, Hastings hauled in his first career receiving touchdown.
Then August 2017 came. It was nearly a year after Hastings made his Auburn debut. He had proven his worth to the Auburn coaching staff and, as a reward, was placed on scholarship as a wide receiver – a mere two years after arriving on campus as a preferred walk-on back-up kicker. It was a moment he had been waiting for since his days back at Pulaski Academy.
"That was really, really cool," Hastings recalls of that moment. "I kind of suspected it, just because a lot of the other walk-ons were joking that I was the only walk-on who had played his freshman and sophomore year. It's really just a blessing, because it's something that a lot of people wish for."
Hastings' first time taking the field as a scholarship player came when Auburn hosted Georgia Southern to open the 2017 season. He validated the coaching staff's decision as he finished with a team-high four catches for 68 yards and was one of two players to catch a touchdown. The other is someone who gave Hastings a piece of advice that he's used every day since.
"Don't get too high on yourself; don't get too low on yourself," Hastings says. "That's something Ryan Davis (Auburn's career receptions leader) taught me — you can't get too high or too low. He's the most prolific receiver in Auburn history, so learning from him is something I'll keep in my back pocket forever."
Hastings concluded the 2017 season with 26 receptions for 525 yards and four touchdowns. His reception total was good enough for third highest on the team, while his receiving yards and touchdown totals were second best for the Tigers.
He was also a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, which honors the achievements and successes of an athlete who started his career as a walk-on.
"I think God has definitely blessed me in multiple ways," Hastings said. "I never really thought any of this was ever going to come about. I'd always dream for it and hoped for it and thought it'd been cool. But I never expected any of this to happen. God is really the one running the show and that's really cool.
"When I talk to close people around me, I always say it's a hard journey because you go from being the top in high school to nothing at Auburn to something, again, to nothing, again. It's just a rollercoaster."
Hastings will enter the 2019 season as a redshirt senior after missing the 2018 season following two knee surgeries within a calendar year. The last thing he wants himself or anyone to do is to compare him to his former self, because "you can't compare the past to what you are now – you have to focus on the future and what you can control and not the past."
Having spent the last five years on the Plains, the Auburn Family has become just that to Hastings — a family.
"You never get judged here," Hastings, who graduated in May with a degree in business, says. "People love you and will come up and say, 'Hey.' Even when I was a walk-on kicker, people would come up to me and talk to me. It's just things like that and people always checking on me that make me feel important and good that people want to care about you.
"It's a huge family and people just want to take care of each other. I appreciate that and I love everyone that is a part of the Auburn Family."