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

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

. He played

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at Florida International and the University of Miami.

Early life

Borregales attended Booker T. Washington Senior High School and was named a Florida Class 4A first-team selection. He was also 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 to play college football.

College career

2016–2019

Borregales redshirted his first year at Florida International University. 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 with 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 of Andre Szmyt 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 bachelor's degree in 2020, Borregales continued his football kicking career at the University of Miami, 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 in a win against the top 20 ranked Louisville Cardinals. During games against Florida State and Clemson he hit field goals from 30 and 42 yards out. In a game against

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

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

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

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

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

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He was named a finalist for the Lou Groza award on 22 December 2020. Borregales was also invited to the 2021 Senior Bowl. On 23 December 2020, Borregales announced he will declare for the 2021 NFL draft and would still be able to play in his team's bowl game. On 1 May, 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 as an undrafted free agent on 13 May 2021. He was waived on 6 September 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 24 January 2022. He was waived on 30 August 2022.

Orlando Guardians

On 18 November 2022, Borregales was drafted by the Orlando Guardians of the XFL. The Guardians folded when the XFL and USFL merged to create the United Football League (UFL).

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

On 22 January 2024, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers signed Borregales. He was released on 14 May.

Personal life

Borregales was born in Caracas,

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with his family at the age of six. He is the third Venezuelan born player to make it to the NFL. His brother Andres, 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 Winnipeg Blue Bombers players 1997 births Sportspeople from Caracas Hispanic and Latino American players of American football American sportspeople of Venezuelan descent