José Borregales (born December 15, 1997) is a Venezuelan

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 ...

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. Spe ...

for the

Orlando Guardians The Orlando Guardians are a professional American football team based in Orlando, Florida. The team was founded by Vince McMahon's Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL. The Guardians played their home games at MetLife ...

of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

. He played college football at Florida International and the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

High school career

Borregales attended Booker T. Washington Senior High School and was named a Florida Class 4A first-team selection. He also was named a First-team All Dade selection and a 2015 Kohl's All-American honorable mention. During his high school career, Borregales converted 13 of 14 field goals and 48 of 51 extra points. He committed to

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

to play college football.

College career

2016–2019

Borregales redshirted his first year at

. In 2017, he served as the team's starting kicker. During the 2017 season he connected on 15 of 18 field goals and went 40 for 40 on extra points. In 2018, he finished the season making 14 of 18 field goals and 54 of 55 extra points. Also in 2018, he was finalist for the Lou Groza Award as the nation's best college kicker. However, he fell short to

Andre Szmyt Andre Eric Szmyt (born September 26, 1998) is an American football placekicker for the Syracuse Orange. College career Szmyt redshirted his true freshman year in 2017. In 2018, Szmyt became the first Syracuse kicker and third freshman to win the ...

in voting. In his final season at FIU, he finished with 21 of 29 field goals and converted all 40 extra point attempts.

2020

After graduating from FIU with a Bachelors Degree in 2020, Borregales continued his football kicking career at the

, as a graduate student. At Miami, he went for 18 of 20 on field goal attempts and went for a perfect 35–35 on extra points. During a game with UAB, he kicked a field goal from 25 yards out. He was named ACC Specialist of the week after he went for 4 of 4 on field goals after win against the top 20 ranked

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

. During games against

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

and Clemson he hit field goals from 30 and 42 yards out. In a game against

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, he made a field goal from 37 yards out. Next week against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

he made both field goals from 32 and 20 yards. He drilled 3 field goals in a come from behind win against NC State and made 2 field goals which were from 40 and 42 yards in a win against

. He hit field goals from 52 and 32 yards during a game against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. He also hit a 47-yard field goal in his lone attempt against

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He was named a finalist for the Lou Groza award on December 22, 2020. Borregales was also invited to the

2021 Senior Bowl The 2021 Senior Bowl was a college football all-star game played on January 30, 2021, at 1:30 p.m. CST, at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2021 draft of the professional National Football Leag ...

. On December 23, 2020, Borregales announced he will declare for the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

and would still be able to play in his team's bowl game. On May 1, after going undrafted in the 2021 NFL Draft, Borregales signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Statistics

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Borregales signed with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 13, 2021. He was waived on September 6, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad. After the Buccaneers were eliminated in the Divisional Round of the 2021 playoffs, Borregales signed a reserve/future contract on January 24, 2022. He was waived on August 30, 2022.

Orlando Guardians

On November 18, 2022, Borregales was drafted by the

of the

Personal life

Borregales was born in Caracas,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with his family at the age of six. He is the third Venezuelan born player to make it to the NFL. His brother Andres “El Borrego 2.0”, succeeded him as Miami’s kicker after his departure to the NFL.

References

External links

FIU Panthers bio

Miami Hurricanes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borregales, Jose Living people American football placekickers FIU Panthers football players Miami Hurricanes football players Orlando Guardians players Players of American football from Miami Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Venezuelan emigrants to the United States Venezuelan players of American football 1997 births