Kevin J. Houser (born August 23, 1977) 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 wi ...

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point att ...

. He was drafted by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in the seventh round of the

2000 NFL Draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

. He played college football at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Early years

Houser attended Westlake High School in

Westlake, Ohio Westlake is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland located 12 miles west of downtown Cleveland. The population was 34,228 at the 2020 census. Geography Westlake is located at (41.454439, −81.928657). Acco ...

, where he played football, basketball, and track. In football, he was a tight end, defensive end, and longsnapper, and ended his career with 38 receptions, and 273 tackles.

College career

Houser graduated from

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publi ...

with a degree in Finance. During college, he was a four-year letterman for the Ohio State Football team where he played tight-end and long-snapper. He was the third member of his family to play at Ohio State, following father, Tom (1969–72), and brother Bob (1993–96).

Professional career

New Orleans Saints

Houser was selected by the

in the seventh round (228th overall) of the 2000

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

. no current player had been with the Saints longer. He was the starting long-snapper and a contributor on punt coverages.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks signed Houser as a free agent on July 23, 2009. He was placed on injured reserve on December 22.

Baltimore Ravens

On December 29, 2010, Houser was signed by the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

to immediately replace

Morgan Cox Morgan Cox (born April 26, 1986) is an American football long snapper for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He played college football at Tenness ...

, who was placed on injured reserve after their game against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

on December 26. Houser would take over as the

for the Ravens to take them through their 2010 season.

Personal life

Houser is married to Kristen Houser and they have two children, daughter Julia, and son Michael. Houser and his wife, cofounded the Life's a Snap charity foundation that provides financial assistance and services to establish and maintain programs which benefit children with serious or life-threatening illnesses. According to an June 11, 2013 ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' report, Houser is being sued by his former teammate

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees i ...

for advising him to invest $160,000 in tax credits that turned out to be bogus. The suit is filed in federal court claims the former long snapper, a licensed securities broker, mishandled Brees' money and failed to disclose his own financial interests in the investments he was promoting. Several other Saints players and coaches have also sued Houser. All extant lawsuits have since been settled out of court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houser, Kevin 1977 births American football long snappers Baltimore Ravens players Living people New Orleans Saints players Ohio State Buckeyes football players Players of American football from Ohio Seattle Seahawks players