GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- As incoming Florida kicker Austin Hardin's high school days wind down, he can't help but think about the journey he has been on.

Hardin (Atlanta/Marist School), ranked the No. 1 kicker in the country, spent his middle school years living in poverty-stricken La Paz, Bolivia, with his father Rick, mother Maria and his brother Luke.

Hardin's father works for the United States Justice Department and was assigned to work in the U.S. Embassy in La Paz when Austin was 13 years old. Austin played soccer for a majority of his childhood, and it was in La Paz that he not only refined his soccer game but realized a unique gift.

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