Nick O’Toole didn’t even give NFL special teams coordinators and scouts a chance to be fooled.

In college at West Virginia, he morphed from a junior college transfer punter into an-almost fictional character defined by his facial hair. As a senior he was known as the ‘Boom-Beard’ – taking the field with a thick, furry beard that even the Mountaineer mascot himself was jealous of. In O’Toole’s sophomore and junior seasons, he first garnered the nickname ‘Boom-Stache’ for his Rollie Fingers-like handlebar whiskers.

His personality piqued more intrigue than his punting, but the truth is, O’Toole excelled on the field in Morgantown too.

He was an All-Big 12 selection three times in three seasons and in 2015, he ranked first in the Big 12 and ninth nationally in punting.

This weekend, like all the other NFL hopefuls around the country, the California native, O’Toole will await his professional fate. The NFL Draft begins Thursday night in Chicago.

After O’Toole finished his West Virginia career at the Cactus Bowl, he got rid of the beard and immediately jumped into the pre-draft process.

“Everyone was pretty happy that I shaved the beard,” O’Toole, still lighthearted in nature, said.

“At this level, you have to be dedicated and you have to show that you’re dedicated. On the field, I’m really all business unless I can take a fake punt to the house, then I will get excited.”

O’Toole has done his research and knows exactly how few roster spots an NFL team holds for specialists, so when he had the opportunity to talk with NFL personnel at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and the NFL Combine, he wanted to impress.

Prior to speaking with scouts and coaches, he picked an agent who helped him become informed of the business. O’Toole signed with Pro Star Sports Agency and is represented by Paul Sheehy.

“Even before he (O’Toole) signed with us, he took initiative on his own, which is impressive,” Sheehy said.

“He’s such a gregarious and outgoing kid that he had fun with it (‘Boom-Stache’) but he also recognized he had job interviews coming up and that he wanted to take it seriously to let them (NFL teams) know what it means to him. I give him a lot of credit.”

The agency represents some prominent players like Miami Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake, but also represents ten current NFL specialists including three punters – Johnny Hekker of the Los Angeles Rams, Britton Colquitt of the Denver Broncos and Spencer Roth of the Buffalo Bills.

“I think the Bills are the only team that carries three guys – a field goal kicker, punter and kickoff guy – which is just another roster spot that they’re using instead of having four deep at cornerback or something like that,” O’Toole said. “Having the skill set and overall technique to punt, kickoff, kick field goals and hold helps. The more tools in the repertoire, the better.”

If O’Toole can assume more duties than just punting like he did at West Virginia, he becomes more valuable because he then would fill multiple roles with only taking up one roster spot. O’Toole kicked off and held field goals for West Virginia too.

At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, O’Toole and the specialists met with all the different special teams coaches across the league.

“The special teams coaches can get a feel for what they want. I think that’s huge because they get to know your character and who you are,” O’Toole said. “They’ve seen the tape and they know how you kick, but building the bonds with coaches, I think that’s the major part of the combine for kickers and punters.”

He has picked up on the varying NFL special teams schemes and believes he could punt successfully regardless of the scheme.

“Certain teams look for different things,” O’Toole said. “Look at Britton Colquitt and Johnny Hekker.”

“The Broncos want fair catches. They could care less if they are leading the league in net punt average. They just want no return yards. Then you have Johnny Hekker, who is an all-pro, pro bowl type punter, who averages 47 yards per punt. It just depends on the special teams coordinator and their scheme.”

During his time at West Virginia, O’Toole landed 35-percent (71 of 201) of his punts inside the 20-yard and blasted more than 31-percent (63 of 201) of his punts 50 or more yards.

O’Toole says the schemes former West Virginia special teams coach Joe DeForest implemented are similar to most of the NFL schemes that he has seen.

“Our pooch punts were the same exact thing that the NFL guys do,” O’Toole added. “For me, it is just a matter of being a bit faster and having a bit more hang time than I had in college.”

With only a few days until the draft, O’Toole is projected a day three selection or to sign as an undrafted free agent.

“The goal is to get him (O’Toole) in a position where he can compete for a roster spot,” Sheehy said. “We have some target teams and I know he’s a target of a handful of teams.”

“Where that is, we’ll find out.”