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
Purdue Boilermakers
The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...
of the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
(Big Ten). Prior to enrolling at Purdue as a graduate transfer in 2021, he attended and played football at
Samford University
Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United Sta ...
in the
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...
(SoCon) of the
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...
(FCS).
At Samford, Fineran earned 2018 SoCon All-Freshman Team, 2019 All-SoCon Second Team, and 2020-2021 FCS All-America Second Team honors. At Purdue, he was selected as a 2021 All-Big Ten Honorable Mention and Pre Season All-Big Ten, All-Big Ten Academic Team, All-Big Ten District Academic Team in 2022.
Early life and high school career
Fineran attended
Peach County High School
Peach County High School is a public high school located in Fort Valley, Georgia, United States. The school is part of the Peach County School District, which serves Peach County.
Mission Statement: To graduate college and career ready student ...
in
Fort Valley, Georgia
Fort Valley is a city in and the county seat of Peach County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 8,780.
The city is in the Warner Robins metropolitan area and the Macon–Warner Robins combined statisti ...
, where he served as the placekicker on the Trojans’ football team from 2014-2017. As a junior, he helped the Trojans reach the 2016 Class state playoff semifinals. He finished the season with 10 made field goals, including a long of 52 yards, and 57-of-58 PATs. His junior placekicking performance earned him Georgia Class AAA All-State honors.
Entering his senior season, Fineran was named to the Preseason Georgia Class AAA All-State Team. As a senior, he was the highest scorer with 119 points (13-of-19 on field goals and 80-of-81 on PATs) on Peach County’s 2017 team that scored 646 points, which ranks as the 26th highest scoring team in the history of Georgia high school football. As Peach County’s kickoff specialist, he had the second-most touchbacks on kickoffs in the nation as a senior. In the 2017 Class AAA state championship game, Fineran was Peach County’s lone scoring, converting 50-yard and 37-yard field goals, in a 10-6 loss to Calhoun High School. His senior performance earned him Class AAA All-State honors.
His 32 career field goals are tied for eighth-most all-time in Georgia state high school football history. He successfully converted five field goals of 50 yards or more in his high school career. He is one of only 14 kickers in Georgia high school football history to make multiple field goals of 52 yards or more. He finished his high school career having made 32-of-51 field goal attempts and 193-of-205 PATs.
In 2016 and 2017, he attended the Southern Showcase Camp. In 2017, he attended the National Scholarship Camp. Kohl’s Kicking rated Fineran as a five-star placekicker and ranked him No. 37 placekicker nationally and No. 4 in the state of Georgia among placekickers in the Class of 2018. He was invited to and played in the Rising Seniors All-Star Game, which was broadcast on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. As a college recruit prospect, Fineran committed to attend and play football for the
Samford Bulldogs
The Samford Bulldogs are the 17 varsity teams (8 men's and 9 women's) that represent Samford University in NCAA Division I athletics. The men's basketball team made its first NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2000.They were led by Reed Raw ...
over an offer from
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
.
College career
2018 (Samford)
As a freshman, Fineran served as the
Samford Bulldogs
The Samford Bulldogs are the 17 varsity teams (8 men's and 9 women's) that represent Samford University in NCAA Division I athletics. The men's basketball team made its first NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2000.They were led by Reed Raw ...
primary placekicker and appeared in all 11 games. He recorded his first and only career fumble recovery in Samford’s Week 5 game against
Kennesaw State
Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was found ...
. He converted his then-career-long field goal of 46 yards against Furman. He finished his freshman campaign making 13-of-17 field goals and all 50 PATs. His 89 points scored led the Southern Conference. He was named to the 2018 SoCon All-Freshman Team.
2019 (Samford)
Entering his sophomore season, Fineran was named to the Preseason All-SoCon First Team and the watch list for the Fred Mitchell Award, which recognizes the top placekicker in FCS, Division II,
Division III
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
Bulldogs
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Furman. He earned SoCon Player of the Week honors for his kicking performance against the
Citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
.
His streak of 91 consecutive PATs made over the 2018 and 2019 seasons is the seventh-longest PAT streak in SoCon history. His 91 points scored led the Southern Conference for the second consecutive season. He also led the Conference in field goals made (15) and field goals made per game (1.5). His 2019 performance earned him All-SoCon Second Team honors as well as selection to the 2019 Fred Mitchell Award Top 10 List. His sophomore efforts earned him 2019 All-SoCon Second Team honors.
2020-2021 (Samford)
Entering his junior season, Fineran was named to the Preseason All-SoCon First Team. After Samford’s season was postponed to the spring of 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Fineran continued in his role as the Bulldogs’ primary placekicker in their abbreviated seven-game season, appearing in every game. In the first quarter of the Bulldogs’ game against Furman, he made a career-long 50-yard field goal en route to a 3-for-3 field goal and 4-for-4 PAT effort. He finished the season making 15-of-18 field goals, with a long of 50 yards, and 32-of-33 PATs. His 2.14 field goals per game ranked third among all kickers in the FCS. His 15 made field goals tied for the most in the FCS. His was the third-highest scoring FCS player with 77 points.
After his junior performance, he was selected to the FCS All-America Second Team and All-SoCon First Team.
2021 (Purdue)
After graduating from Samford, Fineran enrolled at Purdue as a graduate transfer, joined the football team, and served as the
Boilermakers
A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...
primary placekicker for the 2021 season. On November 11, he tied a career-high for single-game points scored with 16, successfully converting all four field goal attempts and all four PATs, in Purdue’s 40-29 upset win over No. 3-ranked
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
. He again tied this 16-point mark in Purdue’s 48-45 bowl game victory over
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
in the
2021 Music City Bowl
The 2021 Music City Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2021, with kickoff at 3:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local CST) and televised on ESPN. It was the 23rd edition of the Music City Bowl (after the 2020 edition wa ...
, including the game-winning field goal in overtime.
In 2021, Fineran’s 24 field goals made tied for the most in the
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
, third-most in the nation, and second-most in a single season in Purdue program history. His field goal percentage of 82.8% ranks as the best all-time Purdue career percentage (minimum 15 attempts) and second-best all-time in a single season (one field goal attempt per game minimum) in Purdue football history, as well as 25th-best in the nation in 2021. His 29 field goals attempted were the most in the Big Ten, tied for the fourth-most in the nation, and third-most in a single season in Purdue program history. His 1.85 field goals per game ranked third-most in the nation. His 11 field goals made of 20-29 yards were the most in the Big Ten and tied for the third-most in the nation. His 12 field goals made of 30-39 yards were the second-most in the Big Ten and the nation. His four field goals made against Michigan State and Tennessee are tied for third-most in a single game in Purdue history. Fineran is 2nd all-time for a single season in field goals, with 24 accomplished this season. His kicking average of 82.8 this season makes him 2nd all-time at Purdue.
His 2021 kicking performance earned him All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors from both the Big Ten Coaches and the Big Ten Media.
2022 (Purdue)
Fineran held a 4.0 grade point average as he pursued a Master's degree in technology leadership and innovation, representing the Highest GPA on the Purdue Football Team (2022). As a Purdue Boilermaker, Fineran made 18-for-24 field goal attempts this season with a long of 46 yards and 42 kicks in both seasons to rank fourth in the program history. His 79.3 field goal percentage sits atop Purdue's career leaderboard by kickers with 15 or more attempts, making him the Purdue all-time career kicking leader.
Fineran became very familiar to Purdue fans over the last two seasons as he closed out his collegiate career with legendary runs in Purdue kicker history with a 79.3% career field goal percentage. He also finishes his career 4th all-time in field goals, with 42 field goals made across his final two seasons with Purdue.
Purdue had an overall successful season, going 8-6 on its way to the B1G Ten Championship game. Although the Boilermakers lost that game to Michigan, Fineran kicked five field goals setting a Big Ten Championship Record and tied for 1st Purdue all-time for field goals in a single game.
Fineran was named to the 2022 Lou Groza Award Preseason Watch List in his second season with the Purdue football program, as announced by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The honor is presented annually to the nation's top placekicker in college football.
Fineran and the other three Boilermakers, Ben Furtney, Gus Hartwig, and Khordae Sydnor, earned Academic All-District Recognition and are advanced to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. He is also included in the Fall Academic All-Big Ten Honorees (2022) and represents the third team among the Preseason All-big ten teams as a kicker.
College Statistics
*The 2020 Southern Conference football season was postponed to and played from February to April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Personal life
In college, Fineran has been involved in community volunteer work, including the Exceptional Foundation, Volunteer Magic City Woodworks, as a Samford Student Athlete Mentor at Goodyear Elementary School, and
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...
Volunteer Summers.
At Samford, he was named to the 2019 Southern Conference Academic Honors List. He graduated from Samford with a
bachelor’s degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...
in Sports Administration and is currently pursuing a
master’s degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
in Technology, Leadership, and Innovation at Purdue.