Kickoff Specialist
A kickoff specialist is a special teams position in gridiron football. They are responsible for kicking the ball in the kickoff. These players tend to have a strong leg, often capable of making touchbacks, and capable of keeping a ball in the bounds of the field of play but do not have the accuracy or technique required to be a full-time placekicker or punter. Placekickers usually double their role as kickoff specialists; pure kickoff specialists are now seldomly-used. Some kickoff specialists later become full-time placekickers, while some are marginal placekickers who are soon out of football. Due to modern roster restrictions (and a 2016 rule change discouraging the kicking of touchbacks by awarding the receiving team possession at the 25-yard line instead of the 20), most NFL teams do not elect to have a kickoff specialist, and instead use their placekickers (or, less often, punters) on kickoffs. The most recent NFL kickoff specialist was Jordan Gay, who played the position f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Jordan Gay
Jordan Lane Gay (born March 29, 1990) is a former American football kickoff specialist. He has also been a punter and a kicker. Gay signed with the Carolina Panthers after going undrafted in the 2013 NFL Draft. He has also been a member of the New York Giants, Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans. Professional career Carolina Panthers Gay signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent. He was released on August 24, 2013. New York Giants Gay was signed by the New York Giants. Gay was released on May 12, 2014. Second stint with the Carolina Panthers Gay was signed by the Panthers for the second time on May 19, 2014. He was released on August 24, 2014. Buffalo Bills On August 26, 2014, Gay was claimed off waivers by the Buffalo Bills. Although nominally listed as a punter, Gay was primarily signed as a kickoff specialist; Colton Schmidt was signed to handle punting duties, though Gay was listed on the depth chart as the backup punter and holder behind Schmidt a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Special Teams
In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitutions", meaning that they may change any number of players during any "dead ball" situation. This has resulted in the development of three task-specific "platoons" of players within any single team: the offense (the team with possession of the ball, which is trying to score), the defense (the team trying to prevent the other team from scoring, and to take the ball from them), and the so-called 'special teams' (who play in all kicking situations). Within these three separate "platoons", various positions exist depending on the jobs that the players are doing. Offense In American football, the offense is the team that has possession of the ball and is advancing toward the opponent's end zone to score points. The eleven players of the offen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Brandon McManus
Brandon Tyler McManus (born July 25, 1991) is an American football placekicker for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He was a member of their Super Bowl 50 championship team, beating the Carolina Panthers, and as of 2022, the last remaining member of the Super Bowl team on the Broncos' roster. He played college football at Temple and was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2013. McManus has also been a member of the New York Giants. College career McManus holds the Temple career records for points scored (338), field goals made (60), field goals attempted (83), and punting average (45.3). As a senior in 2012, he earned All-Big East first-team honors after leading the team in scoring (74) on 14-of-17 field goals and 32-of-33 extra points. He averaged 45.1 yards per punt, pinned 17 punts inside the 20-yard line and had a long kick of 68 yards. McManus handled kickoff duties as well and recorded 40 touchbacks on 56 total kickoffs. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
College Football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most other sports in North America, no official minor league farm organizations exist in American or Canadian football. Therefore, college football is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; one step ahead of high school competition, and one step below professional competition (the NFL). In some areas of the US, especially the South and the Midwest, college football is more popular than professional football, and for much of the 20th century college football was seen as more prestigious. A player's performance in college football directly impacts his chances of playing professional football. The best collegiate players will typically declare for the professional draft after three to four years of collegia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a city in Canada. They are divided into two divisions: four teams in the East Division and five teams in the West Division. As of 2022, it features a 21-week regular season in which each team plays 18 games with three bye weeks. This season traditionally runs from mid-June to early November. Following the regular season, six teams compete in the league's three-week playoffs, which culminate in the Grey Cup championship game in late November. The Grey Cup is one of Canada's largest annual sports and television events. The CFL was officially named on January 19, 1958, upon the merger between the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union or "Big Four" (founded in 1907) and the Western Interprovincial Football Union (founded in 1936). Histor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in North America after the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL) until the AFL closed in 2019. The AFL played a formerly proprietary code known as arena football, a form of indoor American football played on a 66-by-28 yard field (about a quarter of the surface area of an NFL field), with rules encouraging offensive performance, resulting in a typically faster-paced and higher-scoring game compared to NFL games. The sport was invented in the early 1980s and patented by Jim Foster, a former executive of the United States Football League (USFL) and the NFL. Each of the league's 32 seasons culminated in the ArenaBowl, with the winner being crowned the league's champion for that season. From 2000 to 2009, t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
High School Football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partly due to risk of injury, particularly concussions. According to '' The Washington Post'', between 2009 and 2019, participation in high school football declined by 9.1%. It is the basic level or step of tackle football. Rules The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) establishes the rules of high school American football in the United States. In Canada, high school is governed by Football Canada and most schools use Canadian football rules adapted for the high school game except in British Columbia, which uses the NFHS rules. Since the 2019 high school season, Texas is the only state that does not base its football rules on the NFHS rule set, instead using NCAA rules with certain exceptions shown below. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays its home games at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, west of New York City. The stadium is shared with the New York Jets. The Giants are headquartered and practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center, also in the Meadowlands. The Giants were one of five teams that joined the NFL in 1925, and they are the only one of that group still existing, as well as the league's longest-established team in the Northeastern United States. The team ranks third among all NFL franchises with eight NFL championship titles: four in the pre– Super Bowl era (1927, 1934, 1938, 1956) and four since the advent of the Super Bowl (XXI (1986), XXV (1990), XLII (2007), and XLVI (2011)), a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bob Timberlake (American Football)
Robert W. Timberlake (born October 18, 1943) is a former American football player who played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1962 to 1964 and for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) in 1965. Timberlake was the starting quarterback for Michigan who led the Wolverines to the 1964 Big Ten Conference championship and a 34–7 victory over Oregon State Beavers in the 1965 Rose Bowl. Timberlake was selected as a first-team All-American in 1964, received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten, and finished fourth in the 1964 Heisman Trophy voting. Over his three years at Michigan, Timberlake rushed for 315 yards and passed for 1,507 yards. He was responsible for 19 touchdowns, eleven rushing and eight passing. He also served as the team's punter and placekicker with six field goals, 36 extra points, and a total of 121 points scored. After a brief career in professional footba ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Michael Koenen
Michael J. Koenen (born July 13, 1982) is a former American football punter. He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at Western Washington. Early years Koenen attended Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Washington, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and soccer. In football, he won All-Northwest League honors as a senior. College career Koenen played college football for Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington,Player Bio: Michael Koenen ''wwuvikings.com''. and is one of only three NFL players to have played football for that school. While there, he received numerous Division II [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sam Martin (American Football)
Sam Joseph Martin (born February 27, 1990) is an American football punter for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Appalachian State, and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Early years Martin was lettered for soccer for four years and also received all-state recognition in his junior season at Starr's Mill High School. College career In his senior season, he was selected to the Associated Press All-America First team. He also was named to the first-team All-America by ''College Sports Journal'' and third-team all-America by The Sports Network in his senior season. Professional career Detroit Lions In Week 12 of the 2015 season, Martin was awarded as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for four punts totaling 181 yards and only three punt return yards. Martin signed a four-year contract extension with the Lions on September 9, 2016. At the conclusion of the 2016 NFL season, M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |