Marquette King Jr. (born October 26, 1988) is an

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 for the

Arlington Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The team was founded as the Dallas Renegades by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL (2020), XFL owne ...

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 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 ...

Fort Valley State } Fort Valley State University (FVSU, formerly Fort Valley State College and Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School) is a public land-grant historically black university in Fort Valley, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia and ...

and was signed by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2012. King led the NFL in punting yards in 2014.

Early life

King was born and raised in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

by his parents, Audrey and Marquette King Sr. He has a younger sister named Jasmine. He began punting in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. As a child, he loved football and wanted to become a wide receiver. King practiced after his football practices at

Rutland High School Rutland High School is a senior high school located in Rutland, Vermont, and attended by students in grades 9-12. It has been located on Stratton Road since 1994. Prior to 1994 Rutland High School was located on Library Avenue (current Rutland Int ...

and asked teammates to join. After having his teammates decline his invitation, he decided to try punting during his free time, challenging himself to see how far he could kick. His high school coach soon learned of his ability and named him—in addition to his role as wide receiver—the team's punter.

College career

King attended

Fort Valley State University } Fort Valley State University (FVSU, formerly Fort Valley State College and Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School) is a public land-grant historically black university in Fort Valley, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia and ...

where he was originally recruited as a wide receiver. However, he could not find playing time at the position. During his junior year, when his new head coach learned that King practiced punting in his spare time, he threatened to revoke King's

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

unless he focused on becoming a full-time punter. King recounted this, and said "When

he coach He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

threatened to take my scholarship away from me to focus on being a punter I was like, 'All right, well, if you want to take my scholarship away from me, well, I'm oing tofind a way to make this position look fun.'" In his senior year, King was an All-First-team

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Formed in 1913, it consists mostly of historically black co ...

member and the 2011 FVSU Wildcats Most Valuable Player. During the 2011 season, King punted 80 yards against Bethune-Cookman University. During the 2011 season, King led the SIAC Conference in punting with a 43 yards per punt average, with 21 punts landing inside his opponents' 20-yard-line. Sixteen of his punts yielded 50 yards or more. King competed in the first annual

NFLPA Collegiate Bowl The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game for NFL draft-eligible college players, held annually in January. The event was founded in 2012 by the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Players predomi ...

in 2012.

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

Marquette King, Dustin Hopkins (36593049254)

After going undrafted in the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

, the

had King try out for the team. On April 29, 2012, the Oakland Raiders signed King to a three-year, $1.36 million contract. In training camp, King took most of the punting snaps due to an earlier injury to veteran

Shane Lechler Edward Shane Lechler (; born August 7, 1976) is an American former professional football player who played as punter for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M University and was drafted by th ...

. King impressed the coaches enough to be kept on the roster but 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 th ...

for the entire

2012 NFL season The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowboys ...

. With Lechler signing a free-agent contract with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, King competed for the

punting job during the 2013 preseason with experienced veteran

Chris Kluwe Christopher James Kluwe (; born December 24, 1981) is a former American football punter and writer. Kluwe played at Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, California, where he was a 1999 USA Today All-USA high school football team, 1999 ''USA ...

. King won the punting job, and Kluwe was cut at the conclusion of the preseason. During the 2013 season, King led the league in gross yards per punt, with 48.9. In 2014, King led the league in punting yards and total punts, with 4,930 on 109 punts. These numbers also set single-season

franchise records. On March 11, 2015, King signed a one-year, $1.54 million contract to remain with the Raiders. He was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 15. On February 29, 2016, the Raiders signed King to a five-year, $16.50 million extension with $12.50 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $250,000. On September 23, 2016, King was fined $18,231 for a touchdown saving horse collar tackle on

Eric Weems Eric Grimes Weems (born July 4, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver, special teamer, and return specialist. He played college football at Bethune–Cookman and was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 200 ...

during a Week 2 game against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. During the 2016 season, King was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 7. During King's career, he became noted by sports media outlets for his attention-grabbing celebrations and dances following punts. On March 30, 2018, the Raiders released King. Leading up to and upon his release, several of his teammates were publicly critical of King, especially

Bruce Irvin Bruce Pernell Irvin Jr. (born November 1, 1987) is an American football outside linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round with the 15th overall pick of t ...

and

Cordarrelle Patterson Cordarrelle Patterson ( ; born March 17, 1991), nicknamed "Flash", is an American football player for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). A versatile utility player, he plays running back, wide receiver, return speciali ...

. Patterson said of King: "I like

arquette King Arquette is a surname; people with this name include the following members of the Arquette family: * Alexis Arquette, American transgender actress * Cliff Arquette, American actor, father of Lewis Arquette * David Arquette, American actor and a fo ...

he’s a little different, but he’s a good guy. He loves his wine. He always called me after every game like 'let’s go get some wine'. People didn’t like him though. He was kinda like a diva, but he wasn’t. He really didn’t show it that much, but like, he was crazy, man. He had fun though. I respect him as a person, but he just did things a little different…"

Denver Broncos

On April 5, 2018, the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

signed King to a three-year contract worth $7 million. He was placed on injured reserve on October 6, 2018, with a thigh injury. Two days later, the Broncos reached an injury settlement with King and he was released.

St. Louis Battlehawks

King was selected by the

St. Louis Battlehawks The St. Louis BattleHawks are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha A ...

in the

2020 XFL Supplemental Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social m ...

on November 22, 2019. He played in 5 games with them, and had 19 punts for 868 yards. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Free agency

During the 2021 offseason, it was rumored that the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

were considering signing King, who had publicly trained in Arizona since 2019. The Cardinals ultimately did not sign him.

Arlington Renegades

King was selected in the 2023 XFL Draft by the

NFL career statistics

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OAK An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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DEN Den may refer to: * Den (room), a small room in a house * Maternity den, a lair where an animal gives birth Media and entertainment * ''Den'' (album), 2012, by Kreidler * Den (''Battle Angel Alita''), a character in the ''Battle Angel Alita' ...

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References

External links

Oakland Raiders biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Marquette 1988 births Living people African-American players of American football Sportspeople from Macon, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football punters Fort Valley State Wildcats football players Oakland Raiders players Denver Broncos players St. Louis BattleHawks players Arlington Renegades players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people