Red Shirt Freshman = Kickoff Specialist

As the competition for back up kicker started, I was nervous. Since the kicker that I was competing against was one year older, I knew that this would seriously affect our kicking careers.
 The competition started.  

We both made our first few field goals from short distances.  Then as we started to move back, the snapper gave his fraternity brother a low snap, this affected the operation slightly, which caused him to miss the kick. My snap was perfect and I drained my kick down the middle.  On the other kicker’s next kick, another low snap, another miss.  My next snap was low, but I stayed with it and made the kick.
 I ended up winning the duel and was named the back up kicker. A couple of misses by me and my season would have been over.

As we began the season, our team was playing well.  The starting kicker was kicking field goals well, but his kickoffs were not as strong as mine. How was I going to get an opportunity to show that I was the better kickoff guy?  There was only one thing that I could do that would be effective. I had to go to the head coach directly.

Coach George Welsh, was a great coach, but not very personable and a little intimidating.  I was anxious about going and speaking to him. I had never been in this position before.
I went to his office and waited for him to come in. When he arrived, I looked him squarely in the eye and told him that I conceded that the starting kicker was better than I was, right now, but that I know that I am a much better at kickoffs. That I can help this team with field position.


Coach Welsh told me that he respected that I came to him and that we would start charting kickoffs during practice. He would then evaluate the results and make a decision. Fair enough.


(I heavily courage my kicking students to go and talk to the head coach if they feel that they are in a situation similar to mine).


The next game, we were up by several touchdowns and my special teams coach came up to me and told me that I would get the next kickoff.  We scored. (The starting kicker’s kickoffs average was to the 8 yard line.)

On my first kickoff, I kicked the ball 6 yards deep into the endzone. A difference of 14 yards. My second kickoff went 3 yards into the endzone.  A difference of 11 yards from his average.
 However, that wasn’t enough to earn the starting kickoff job.

The next week, we charted three straight days and all three days I out kicked him, by a huge margin on distance and hang time.


In the next game, he took the first kickoff and kicked it to the 15 yard line. After our next touchdown, I was told to kickoff.  I kicked the ball 8 yards deep into the endzone for a touchback. I had finally taken over as the starting kickoff specialist and never looked back.

It was a great feeling to be playing college football.  The energy and excitement of the games were incredible.

That season, we ended up as ACC Co-Champions with Duke (yes, Duke) that was coached by Steve Spurrier. We got the nod for the Citrus Bowl.  A New Year’s Day bowl in Orlando, FL. It was my first experience going to a college bowl game.

The bowl experience was a blast.  We were taken to many functions that included:

• Dinner Parties
• Parades
• Disney World
• Universal Studious
• Epcot Center

However, we ended up losing to Illinois 21 - 10.

College Years - Freshman to Sophmore

You always hear of girls getting the “Freshman 15” when they go to college.  Well it happens to guys as well. Or at least it happened to me.


I entered UVA weighing 172 lbs.  By the second semester of my first year I was up to 192 lbs.  So, I got the “Freshman 20.” I would like to believe that most of it was muscle, but at 14.5% body fat, I knew that wasn’t the case.


I went from a ‘microwave for every meal’ kid to a cafeteria that provided me with a buffet all day long.


However, it didn’t take long for me to drop weight and gain muscle when we started our “Winter Workouts.”  Our strength coach John Gamble, was big and strong and a bit intimidating, but the reality was he was just one of the nicest men you’d ever want to meet.


However, his ‘Winter Workouts’ were not so nice.


Three times a week we had to get up early, go to U-Hall, and work our way through the conditioning stations in the "Cage."  These were workouts that would make you puke that wonderful ‘buffet’ dinner from the night before.


But the Winter Workouts worked. I had 0.0 vertical before our Winter Workouts, and by the end of our training, I could dunk. OK…it was a tennis ball, but at least I could dunk.


As we started getting closer to Spring Football I was getting excited.  I had an opportunity to be the starter for the next four years. Things were looking good. Then, I decided to play some indoor soccer at an all-night intramural tournament.  I missed playing soccer and when the opportunity presented its self I thought “why not”.


I would soon realize “why not.”


During our third game of the night I rolled my ankle badly.  Not good.  It wasn't so bad when I went to bed, but in the morning, it hurt like a mutha (you get the idea).


I went into the training room the next morning and told them that I twisted it while jumping out of the top bunk in the middle of the night with books on the floor. That didn't go over so well.


Spring Ball didn't go as expected. I had sprained my right ankle. This severely hindered my ability to kick the ball. As a result, I came out of Spring Ball as the number two kicker.


I spent that summer at home where I did some training and worked as a lifeguard at Buckroe Beach.  It was probably one of my best summers ever for goofing off. But not for football.


I kicked maybe a handful of times that summer.  I had a lot to learn about proper training to be a successful kicker.


So I entered my second year (but "red shirt freshman" season) as one of the back-ups.


I admit the starting kicker Jake was better on field goals, but I was stronger on kickoffs.  And there was another kicker on the roster as well.


One day, the week before the first game of the season, our special teams coach told us that at the end of practice, we were going to have a "Kick Off" to determine the back-up kicker for the season.  This meant I was going to get about eight field goal attempts that would determine my fate for the season, and perhaps for my career.


We had two kickers, one holder and one snapper. The funny thing was the long snapper just happened to be in the same fraternity of the other kicker. 

College Years: First Year...Not Freshman (part 2)

Midway through my first year, I found myself number two on the depth chart for kickoffs.  I was happy to be recognized by the coaching staff and liked seeing my name on the travel depth chart.  Traveling to away games was novel and it had some 'perks.'

We received a per diem for meals and I got to check out the other campuses and stadiums of the other schools in the ACC.  I enjoyed traveling and kept thinking about all of the good things to come over the next few years.  Not playing in the games allowed for me to relax during the trips and absorb the experience of college football.  

The starting kicker at the time was Mark Inderlied.  He was a 5th year senior and probably the coolest guy that I had met at UVA.  He was like a big brother to me my first year.  We looked somewhat similar that if he would have given me his old ID, I could have used it to get in the bars at the ripe age of 18.  But, I would never use a fake ID; now would I?



Learning from Mark was beneficial to my kicking career.  If anything, he taught me that it wasn’t about your competition with others, but the competition with yourself.  He was always nice to all of the kickers on the team regardless of the fact that they would love to have his job.  I have known many kickers and punters -and other players at other positions- to be jerks just because someone else played the same position.  

My philosophy soon became, "it doesn’t matter who the competition is, as long as I make all of my kicks, because that is all that I can control and worry about."

As we neared the end of my first year, I was under the impression that I would be red shirted, thus allowing for me to have four full years to kick after my first year at UVA.  However, as we entered the last week of the season, Mark had “tweaked” his groin.  He was able to kick field goals, but his status for kickoffs was up in the air.

Being number “2” on the depth chart meant that if he could go, I would have to play and kickoff.  And what this meant was that I would be jeopardizing a year of eligibility over a few kickoffs.  


If that is what I had to do, then so be it, but it was not my ideal scenario.

A few of the coaches spoke to me and let me know that they were aware of the situation and that they would talk with our head coach, George Welsh.  Some coaches had the philosophy that if I was the best “kickoff guy,” then I should be kicking.  However, others realized that we were not going to a bowl game that year and why would they want to waste a year of my eligibility.  

Mark was telling me that he felt that he would be healthy enough to kickoff, but I was still concerned. So I continued to prepare to be ready to kickoff if needed.  


As we entered game day, Mark came off the field after warm ups and told me that he was 'good to go' and that he told Coach Welsh that he could handle the kickoffs.  Whew.  All though I was ready to kick and help our team out, I was relieved that I was able to preserve my eligibility.

On a funny side note, during pre-game, and as I was warming up, the UVA mascot, the Cavailer, and the Maryland mascot, a Terrapin, started to have a pretend shoving match to get the crowed stirred up. 


Well, one thing led to another and the pushing started getting more intense.  Then they started grappling with each other.  All of a sudden, the UVA mascot picked up the Maryland mascot and body slammed him on the Astro Turf  (yes, it was that long ago.).  The turtle was on his back and couldn’t get up.

As it turned out, the Maryland mascot had broke his arm when being slammed to the ground by the UVA mascot.

We ended up winning our last game of the season against the University of Maryland to finish 7-4 on the season.  Four losses. That was the total number of losses that I had in my three years playing in high school.


College football was going to be different.


Tomorrow: more on college years.
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For more on Michael Husted go to www.HustedKicking.com

College Years: First Year...Not Freshman (part 1)

At Virginia, there is a saying that we are not Freshman, but rather First Year students. This is because Thomas Jefferson felt like learning didn’t end after college, it was just the beginning. 

And at college, my education as a student of kicking was just taking shape.

I was very eager to start the next chapter of my life at UVA.  The first few days of the first week of practice were for the First Year players only.  Ah, good ol “Two a Days.”

Things were going well, I was comfortable with both my kicking and my acclamation to college football.  I had even been given the same number I had in high school, “5”. 

Then the upper classmen showed up.

As I was walking out to the first practice with the whole team, I heard one of the starting corner backs, Tony Covington, talking behind me.  As it turned out, Tony was also number “5” and apparently didn’t like the fact that a first year, let alone a kicker, had his jersey number as well.  I knew not to look back.  Instead, I looked ahead and quickly walked to the practice field.  I ended up having my jersey number changed to “18,” which would end up being my number for the duration of my college career.

At the end of the first day, all of the first year players were informed that we had to report to one of the Captain’s room after dinner.  As it turns out, the upper classmen were going to start a new tradition, head shaving.  I had always had a lot of hair on my head, except for when I was born.  So the thought of having my head shaved did not go over well.

As I sat in the chair, I expected to have a clean shave, like the military upon entering boot camp.  However, as it turned out, each upper classman had a challenge to come up with the ‘best’ or should I say the ‘worst’ hair style.  Let’s just say that my style was part of a math equation, an uneven set of ‘equal’ marks.

I woke up the next morning hoping that it was all a bad dream.  As I reached for my head I realized that the dream was true.  My hair was gone.  We were told that we had to keep our new hair dos for a couple of days. 

To keep my mind of my new haircut, I focused my attention on my kicking, as there were a few adjustments to make.

Coming out of high school, I was using a 2” block for field goals.  When we started “Two a Days” at the college level, we were still allowed use blocks for field goals.  The other kickers were using a 1” block.  So, I decided that I need to go down to a 1” block as well.  The adjustment wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  It turns out that only your height on field goals is affected, not the distance.

After we broke from “Two a Days,” I found myself third on the depth chart.  It didn’t bother me too much as I expected to be red-shirted.  I ended up watching the first few games from the stands.

High School to College

 Going into my senior year of high school, I started thinking about the hard decision that I would have to make in choosing the right college to continue playing football. Would it be Notre Dame or UCLA?


I expected there to be a few other big players to compete with, but those were my top two choices.


Should I go and play for Notre Dame and its elite program (at the time?)  Or do I follow my calling to go out west to California and play for the Bruins?  Both offered so many positives.


But while those choices were looming, there was another important choice to make that had nothing to do with what college to attend. And that was ‘what car to drive’!


You see, I had an agreement with my parents that if I received a scholarship, they would buy me a new car.  I had the perfect one picked out, the Suzuki Samurai.  This was an easy pick.

Like the ad said, it had 'fun' written all over it!

But before I drove off to Notre Dame (or UCLA) in that brand new (red) Suzuki Samurai, I had to finish my high school football season.

After we lost in the State Finals in my senior year to T.C. Williams, I thought that the schools would be calling me non-stop once the "contact period" began.  Schools had said they were interested in me and were going to contact me.  So, I waited.

And waited…and waited…and waited.

And as I was waiting, I started getting an uneasy feeling. 

Appalachian State University had stopped by during my senior season and said that I was their number one choice. But I never heard back from them.  Virginia Tech had expressed interest in me as a punter, but I wanted to kick field goals.  As for my top two teams, they never called.

I had received several calls from FCS (D1-AA) schools, William & Mary and James Madison University, but when I mentioned that to my high school coach, Mike Smith, they stopped calling.  That seemed odd.  I also had a few smaller schools, D2, interested in me, but all of a sudden they stopped calling.  I wasn't sure what happened. 

Why did they stop calling? 

The national signing day came and went. I was still without a college to attend.

What was I going to do? Where was I going to go?

I was completely unaware of how the recruiting process worked. I thought that if I kicked well and that our team was great, the rest would take care of itself.  My parents didn't have a clue either.  They just wanted to see me get a college education and hopefully see me kick at a few games.  I found myself in the same situation that many student-athletes find themselves.  I wasn't being heavily recruited, but I knew that I wanted to play at the next level.

Then in early spring things started to happen.  At the time, the coach recruiting our area for the University of Virginia was Tom O’Brien (Current N.C. State head coach). He came to visit and told me I was there top choice at kicker; but they didn’t have a scholarship.  Instead, they wanted me to walk on.

I was excited.


I was ranked 19th in my class, I had a 3.6 GPA and had scored fairly well on my S.A.T.s.  I felt that it was an ideal fit.  And the University of Virginia was (is) an incredible academic institution that had a solid football program.  Plus, it was only 2 ½ hours from home so my family and friends could come and visit.


I was very fortunate.


I ended up with a preferred walk on opportunity at the University of Virginia.  Coach Smith, as it turned out, had a big role in getting me there.  I had often wondered why all of those other schools just stopped calling me.  I think that Coach Smith told them that I wasn't interested.  I have since come to find out that he funneled me to the University of Virginia.


And just a little side-note to the story (considering all the worrying I did about finding a college).


That summer, after I graduate high school, I was contacted by Liberty University.  Their kicker had been injured and they had a full scholarship to offer me.  Knowing that I wanted to have a social life in college as well, I spoke to the coach recruiting me and asked about life on campus.  He told me “son, this is a very religious school, there are no fraternities and if there is any social activity it is off campus.”


Hmmm…now I had a decision to make. I thought, do I take the “money and run” or walk on at UVA?
I spoke to my parents and both wanted me to go to UVA.  I expressed my concern about them having to pay for school. They told me not to worry about that.


To this day, I am very thankful that I attended the University of Virginia and I would do it all over again.  I am proud to be a Cavalier.

High School Days

With my National Camp Series (NCS) and my private lessons, through Husted Kicking, I see –and coach- a lot of high school football kickers. And having such vivid memories of my own time kicking in high school, I can certainly relate to their goals, frustrations, dreams and desires.

I have many good memories from kicking on my high school team. And they include both the ‘ups and downs’ that go with playing the game.

When I started playing organized football in 9th grade, I actually played on a city league team, the North Hampton Bulldogs.  And my motivation to play was less about football then other things I had on my mind at that time.

I was with some friends playing video games in the arcade at the local shopping mall. Then some girlfriends of ours (who were cheerleaders for the Bulldogs) came in and said that the team needed some players. They said (convincingly) that we should go out for the team.

Wanting to impress the girls, the three of us decided to try out for the team. 

As it turned out, I ended up being a valuable asset to the Bulldogs since kicking extra points in the city league earned you two points instead of one.  We won a few games by a one-point margin from my kicking the extra point(s).

The North Hampton Bulldogs were located in an area of our city that fed into a different high school, Bethel High (think Allen Iverson), and at one point, my Bulldog’s coach introduced me to Bethel’s head coach who asked me where I lived.

Needless to say, he wasn’t happy to hear I was zoned for Hampton High, but wasn’t attending the school where he coached. He asked if I would be interested in attending Bethel if it could be “arranged.”  I politely declined. In retrospect…a good decision.

My sophomore year, I went out for the Hampton Crabbers and made the team.

The Crabbers were a power-house program that always had strong talent that attracted college scouts.  The team’s kicker (a senior) and I were very comparable in skill level. So the head coach, Mike Smith, told me that he was going to let the senior start since I had two more years.

Although I didn’t like the decision, I fully respected it.  I did a few kickoffs in that season, but spent most of the time on the sideline. We rolled through the season and playoffs undefeated to win a State Championship against T.C. Williams High School.  Yes, the same school the movie “Remember the Titans” was based on.

Heading into my junior year, I knew that the job of kicking for the team was mine. But it turned out I would have even more responsibility than I thought as I was told that I would also be punting for the team.

Having never punted on a regular basis, I started to hone those skills as well.

That year we had another solid team and my value at the beginning of the season was mainly on kickoffs.  Having grown stronger between my sophomore and junior season, I was consistently putting the ball in the end-zone on kickoffs.  This helped our defense out tremendously and made the coaches stoked.  We were undefeated again until we hit an unexpected two game losing streak mid-season.

Our coaches made sure we “righted our ship” and we finished off the season strong, earning another trip to the playoffs.

I had a few field goals during the regular season, but my biggest kick came during the second round of the playoffs.  We were playing Green Run High School and right before the half, I drilled a 37 yard field goal to put us up 10-0.  We ended up winning the game 17-7.

We then went on to beat Salem High School 14-0 in the State Championship game for our 2nd title in a row.

Now, not all moments on the field are ‘memorable’ ones. However I’ll never forget that during this last game, and as I was jogging out for a punt, my coach yelled at me to “coffin corner” the ball. No problem.

The snap was good, however as I turned to angle the punt and made contact something didn’t feel right as it came off of my foot.  As I looked up to see where the ball went I realized that I had shanked it into the stands for a net punt of three yards.

Luckily, that didn’t have an effect on the outcome.

Regardless of that punt, I ended up making 6 field goals that season and about 80% of my kickoffs were touch backs.  That was enough to earn honors as:

●     All District Kicker

●     All Region Kicker

●     All State Kicker

Heading into my senior season, I had high expectations. I wanted to be All American. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect. I took extra measures to make this happen. I changed my diet and minimized my extra-curricular activities (i.e. high school parties).


During our first game, I missed an extra point.  I was mad at myself, but convinced myself that my goal of All American was still attainable.  However, during our second game, I missed an extra point and had a 50 yard field goal fall short.  I was devastated.  We won the game, but I was upset with myself and found myself crying in my locker.  My All American honor was surely gone now.


On the bus ride home I sat and thought about the rest of the season and what I needed to do to have it be successful.  I realized that I had put too much pressure on myself.  I decided that I was going to relax, focus on helping ‘the team’ win, no matter what happened.


We lost our last game of the season to our rivals Bethel, but won our district. So, once again we were headed to the playoffs.


We won our first two games, which were at home, but had to travel for the state semi-final game against Faquier High School.  They were undefeated and had an impressive offense.  The game was in December in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains. It was pretty cold.


As we got off of the bus I went to check out the field.  As it turned out they had heavily soaked (make that drowned) the area where I would be kicking my extra points from. I was flattered that they thought enough of this ‘humble’ kicker to take that extra measure.


The game was an intense battle.  I started off the scoring by kicking a field goal and we were up 10 - 0 by half time.  In the third quarter, they scored a touch-down. Since they didn’t have a reliable kicker they decided to go for “two.”  We stopped them.


The score was now 10 - 6.


It was late in the fourth quarter and we had to punt deep in our own territory.  The snap came back, but it was slow.  I caught the ball and began my steps, but using my “kicker senses,” I felt someone close, so I quickly looked up and side stepped what would have been a sure blocked punt.

For a moment, I thought that I could run for the first down, but decided to punt the ball.  The result was a 56 yard punt that pinned them deep in their territory.  They went “four and out,” and we ran out the clock.


We went on to Hampton’s fourth state championship game in a row. It would be my third.


Once again, the State Championship was against T.C. Williams.


This game was a defensive struggle.  We found ourselves down 10 - 0 heading into the fourth quarter.  On our next possession we scored on a 72 yard touchdown pass.  We were set up for the extra point, but had a new snapper as our normal snapper was injured.


This new snapper threw the ball a lot harder. The snap camp back like a bullet, but a little high.  The holder couldn’t get a good handle on it and thus, we never got the kick off.


That missed extra point would come back to haunt us.


Time was running out and we needed a miracle.  We held them on three downs and they had to punt with less than a minute left in the game.  I was hoping for a block or a huge return.  What happened next never crossed my mind.  The snapper snapped the ball over the punters head and it went all the way down to the five yard line.  Hampton Crabbers, first and goal.  We would surely punch the ball in, right?


On first down, the crowd noise was so loud that we had a false start.  On second down, we tried to throw a quick screen out wide, but the tailback dropped it and it was a lateral, so he had to jump on the ball.  It was now third and goal from the 12 yard line. And this is where the missed kicked would haunt us, if we only would have converted the extra point, we could have played for the field goal to tie. 


We had two downs to score a touchdown.  Then disaster struck.  We ran a corner route with two options for our quarterback to throw the ball.  He could lob it up over the defender where only the receiver could have a chance to catch it or throw a bullet fast enough that the defender wouldn’t have a chance to intercept it.


Unfortunately, our quarterback lobbed it, but not far enough. Their defender picked it off and ran it out of bounds. We lost. I couldn’t believe it.


It definitely wasn’t the way that I had envisioned my last high school football game to end.  I was expecting to have three state titles.  The one consolation was that I again received All District Kicker, All Region Kicker and All State Kicker, plus one more.  I had received Honorable Mention All American Kicker.


As I said, my high school kicking years were filled with many ups and downs, but those were the experiences that would shape and prepare me as I moved to the college level.

Michael Husted NFL Kicker

Playing in the NFL is just about every kid's dream growing up. It was certainly mine.

From sandlot games with a nerf football to playing Saturday afternoons in a college stadium, if you are passionate about the game of football, you have envisioned playing Sundays in the NFL.

I certainly did.

I am left handed, so naturally I had a poster of Jim Zorn (famous Seattle Seahawks left handed QB) hanging in my bedroom as a young kid. As I looked at that poster at night, I imagined myself growing up to play quarterback in the NFL, just like Zorn. And why not, I could throw the ball far.

However, I also grew up playing a lot of soccer, and I could kick the ball very far with good accuracy.  I was fast and having playing goalie for a few years, I also had good hands.

So, when I tried out for the football team in 9th grade, I went expecting to play QB, wide receiver or defensive back.  On that first day of practice, being on a football team to kick a football never entered my mind. 

But on that sunny afternoon, as we all stood in anticipation of what position we might get picked to play, the head coach called out to the team asking, “Can anyone kick?” 

Looking around and not seeing anyone put their hand up, I raised mine and said, “I play soccer.”  The coach looked at me and said, “Good.  You’re our kicker.”

Kicker??? Not exactly what I had in mind, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

However, my first attempt at kicking a football in front of the team was not very successful.

I didn’t have my cleats on and as we started to practice field goals I was told to, “Take three steps back, two over, and kick the ball.”  Easiest enough, right?  Soccer style. 

Well, as I went to plant for my first real field goal attempt ever, I slipped and fell on my butt.  Needless to say, the whole team and coaching staff laughed.

I stood up, gained what composure I could, and tried kicking conventional style or “Toe Jam” as I call it. I kicked the ball pretty well. But I wanted to try soccer style again.

This time I hammered the ball.

I looked up at the head coach and said, “Which way do you want me to kick it?”  He looked at me and said, “Son.  I don’t care if you kick it with your ass.  Just get the damn ball through the uprights.”

Thus, my kicking career was born. And little did I know then, that my NFL dreams would come true.

I went on to play high school football for the Hampton Crabbers in Hampton, Virginia.  Then I was offered a preferred walk on opportunity at the University of Virginia.  After being red shirted and then the kickoff specialist for two years, I ended up kicking field goals and handling kickoffs my last two years in college.

When the NFL draft occurred my senior season, I wasn’t drafted, but I was offered a college free agent contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to compete with legendary Eddie Murray, free agent Tracy Bennett, and rookie draft pick, Darren Alcorn (Mr. Irrelevant.).

Having four kickers in a NFL training camp was unheard of since there are limited camp spots.

After a long and tenuous competition, I outlasted them all to earn a roster spot my first year out of college.  I had made the team as a rookie.

I ended up playing for six seasons with the Bucs, then one season each with the Raiders, Redskins and Chiefs. As it turned out, I played in the NFL for nine years.

Not bad for someone whose very first kick landed him on his butt, and who wasn't even considered for the NFL draft.

Since leaving the NFL I have stayed within the profession of football. I created and sold the online recruiting website, iPlayers.com. I launched the National Camp Series (NCS) for kickers, punters and long snappers. And most recently I opened up my own kicking academy, Husted Kicking.

It's been a long -and amazing- road from that sandlot with the nerf football.

However, one thing has become quite clear to me along that road, and that is kicking has been, is and will be a big part of my life.

I have been very fortunate to have played in the NFL, that is an opportunity few people get. However, I also know it's a dream many young people have. Now, my goal is to help individuals with the same dream I had, on their path.

Whether it is a high school kicker hoping to get a scholarship to college, or a college or free agent kicker looking for an opportunity to play in the NFL, I believe my experience playing the game at the highest level under the most stressful conditions combined with my ability to teach proper fundamentals, means I can teach others what I know, so well, and for which I have such a deep passion.

I am Michael Husted, NFL Kicker, and this is my blog.

In this blog, I plan to talk about all the projects I am currently involved in which are helping kickers realize their dream. These would be the National Camp Series (and Super Camp VI), Husted Kicking (private and group lessons), the Aguiar/Husted PRO Camp and other projects that are currently on the drawing board, but have great potential for helping kickers.

This week I plan to start with my personal path, then next week I will move on to some of the other kicking projects I am involved with.

So stick around. I’m looking forward to sharing what I've learned on my journey to help you on yours.