Michael John Prindle (born November 12, 1963) is a former

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 ...

(NFL)

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 ...

. Prindle played one season for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

in 1987.

High school

Prindle was a kicker and quarterback for Grand Rapids Union High School. On October 31, 1980, he kicked a 55-yard field goal against Muskegon High School, the fifth longest in Michigan high school history.

College

Prindle went on to kick for

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

from 1981 to 1984. During his career at WMU he kicked 55 consecutive point after attempts (PATs) to make him the best kicker in WMU history up to the time he attended. He has been named to the WMU All-Century Football Team as one of the top 100 student-athletes in WMU history. In 1984 Prindle kicked seven field goals in a single game for Western Michigan vs

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

in 1984, to tie the NCAA college record for all divisions. He was determined by his coach to have made 20 kicks for the day including kickoffs, while starting quarterback Steve Hoffman had thrown only 21 passes. Said coach

Jack Harbaugh Jack Avon Harbaughhttp://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Ebattle/celeb/harbaugh.htm (born June 28, 1939) is a former American football player and coach. He is known for being the longtime head coach at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers fo ...

: "It's the only time I know of that we had to ice the kicker's leg instead of the quarterback's arm."

Professional career

Prindle attempted to play professional football. He was not drafted, but signed with the Los Angeles Raiders out of college in 1985. He did not make the final roster and had opportunities with the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Phoenix Cardinals before being signed as a replacement player in 1987 for the

. Prindle played in three games and scored 24 points. His NFL career was six made point after attempts in six attempts. He attempted seven field goals, making six of them for a field goal percentage of 85.7%.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prindle, Mike Western Michigan Broncos football players Detroit Lions players 1963 births Living people Players of American football from Grand Rapids, Michigan National Football League replacement players