Craig Hentrich (; born May 18, 1971) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

punter in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

(NFL) for 17 seasons. He played college football for Notre Dame. He was drafted by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

in the eighth round of the

1993 NFL Draft The 1993 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot Ma ...

, and has also played for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the thir ...

and Tennessee Oilers / Titans. With the Packers, he won

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The Pat ...

Early years

Hentrich graduated from Marquette Catholic High School in Alton, Illinois.

College career

Hentrich

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

four years at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, serving as both the

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Sp ...

and punter. He finished his career with a school-record 44.1-yard punting average and had 39 career

field goals A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire bal ...

(on 56 attempts) to rank second behind John Carney’s 51. Also, he finished his career ranked second on the school's all-time scoring list with 294 points, the most ever by a

Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I intercollegiate sports and ...

kicker, and made a record 98.3 percent (177/180) of his PAT attempts.

Professional career

Hentrich was drafted in the

by the

, but was then signed to the

. Hentrich spent four seasons with the Packers, playing in every Green Bay game from 1994 through 1997. He also handled kickoffs regularly for the Packers during the 1996 season, helping the Packers to a world championship in

. Hentrich signed with the Tennessee Oilers following the 1997 season. In 1999, the Titans made it to

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis ...

in which Hentrich featured, however they lost to the

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend fr ...

-led

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, denying him a second Super Bowl ring. Hentrich became a free agent after the 2008 season and was thinking of retiring. On March 6, 2009, he decided to return to football and the Titans. He signed a one-year deal for the veteran minimum, which under the labor agreement costs teams considerably less in cap dollars. Hentrich was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in t ...

in 2009, ending his season. He retired following the 2009 season after playing in 241 games and 16 seasons, falling just short of 50,000 career punting yards.AP, Hentrich to retire after 17 seasons
/ref> He was the last remaining Titan player who was also a member of the 1999 team that appeared in the Super Bowl.

References

External links

Tennessee Titans biographyHentrich Signs One Year Deal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hentrich, Craig 1971 births Living people People from Alton, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois American football punters American Conference Pro Bowl players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players New York Jets players Green Bay Packers players Tennessee Oilers players Tennessee Titans players