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Record-setting WMU kicker Butch Hampton leaves school to pursue soccer

Butch Hampton set a MAC record for points as a true freshman. (AP Photo/Bradley Leeb)
Butch Hampton set a MAC record for points as a true freshman. (AP Photo/Bradley Leeb)

Butch Hampton set the Mid-American Conference record for points during his freshman season at Western Michigan.

He won’t have the chance to break it.

Hampton, who put up 128 points kicking for the Broncos, told MLive.com he is leaving WMU to return to his home state of Oklahoma and play soccer for his father, who coaches at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

“I just want to make it clear that I didn’t leave Western because I was unhappy,” Hampton said. “I absolutely loved it there. Teammates, coaches, schooling; it was just a change of heart for me.”

Hampton told MLive he informed the WMU coaching staff (then led by P.J. Fleck, who has since left for Minnesota) the news after the Broncos lost to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl. In that game, WMU’s only loss of the season, Hampton hit a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter that set the MAC record for points in a season. For the year, he connected on 19-of-24 field goals with a long of 47 yards in WMU’s season-opening win over Northwestern.

Hampton’s best game was the MAC title game, when he connected on all five of his attempts to help the Broncos win their first conference championship since 1988. His five field goals were a record for the MAC title game.

Before the season began, Fleck put Hampton through a series of pressure-packed situations in order to prepare him for the season. One of those tests — a 49-yard field goal in practice — ended up costing Hampton the mullet he had been growing for more than two years.

Fleck said those things paid off in the Northwestern game (a 22-21 win) when Hampton hit three field goals after missing his first attempt.

“A guy that hasn’t had a lot of pressure, you have to see how he’s going to respond in those pressure situations. I don’t think there’s much more pressure than first game, Big Ten opponent, 50-yarder,” Fleck said. “Next kick, 47-yarder, and he drills that one. The ability to respond — you missed the first of your college career — to come back and respond and hit three, if it wasn’t for that we wouldn’t have won the football game.”

But despite all of his success as a true freshman, Hampton said the chance to play for his father was too much to pass up.

“My father has coached there for 20 years, grew up playing for him,” Hampton told MLive. “It was just what my heart wanted.”

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!