BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
There are certain positions in sports where you get some of the most interesting and candid comments. From my past experiences, I’ve had a blast talking with kickers.
This dates back to my days working as a sportswriter for the Hallandale Digest.
The first NFL team I covered early in the 1980’s was the Miami Dolphins coached by Hall of Fame icon Don Shula.
I would get some of my best interviews during training camp.
The first kicker that I interviewed was with Garo Yepremian, who used his foot to help the Dolphins win a pair of Super Bowl Titles in the early 1970’s. Yepremian is also known for a missed field goal where he attempted to bat a ball out of bounds but instead batted it up in the air right into the arms of former Detroit Lions teammate, Redskins cornerback Mike Bass, who returned it for a touchdown. The Dolphins still won the game 14-7 and completed the only undefeated season in NFL History in 1972.
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The following Dolphins training camp, Shula brought in another kicker named Al Del Greco who competed for the job in 1984.
Del Greco was an undrafted free agent from Auburn University. He caught my attention when the Tigers, thanks to his four field goals defeated the Michigan Wolverines in 12-3 in the 1984 Sugar Bowl. Del Greco was a four year letterman who completed 110 out of 111 PAT’s in his college career. He also set the SEC record for field goal attempts in a single game in a 1982 game versus Kentucky where he made six out of his seven attempts. His 236 career points place him fifth on the Auburn career scoring list.
When I suggested to Digest Editor Dan Bluesten that we write about Del Greco, he was strongly opposed to the idea. I told Dan that since I’m covering training camp, I’m going to do it anyways sighting the fact that if Del Greco performed well, he’d land a job with another team. I spoke to Shula about this and he shared my sentiments.
Del Greco proved me right. He played for the Green Bay Packers from 1984-1987, St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals 1987-1990, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Oilers/Tennessee Titans 1991-2000. The Coral Gables, Florida native scored 1,584 points in his NFL Career.
My instincts prevailed again.
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During the past few years, I’ve been fortune enough to cover the Miami Hurricanes and a kicker that I’ve talked to numerous times that you could see in Andres Borregales, who hails from Caracas, Venezuela. It was weird not seeing him at the Hurricanes Spring Game, but his name was mentioned as the event started.
During his career, he was a two-time First Team All-ACC Kicker in 2023, 2025. In the 2023 season, he was 22-26 on field goal attempts and 44 of his 45 extra points. In the 2024 season, he hit a 56-yard career long field goal that resulted in a win over Virginia Tech. He finished his final collegiate season in 2024 going 18-19 on his field goals, while also making all 62 of his extra point attempts.
Enclosed in this story is the video that we did during the Hurricanes Pro Day a few weeks ago.
As I said, I’ve interviewed him numerous times and is considered a legitimate prospect.
How legitimate is he?
The New England Patriots selected him the sixth round of the NFL Draft Saturday which ensures him one trip to Hardrock Stadium as he looks to make life difficult for the Miami Dolphins.
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The final kicker that I’ll talk about is Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was originally drafted by the Carolina Panthers but never played with the cats. He joined the Chiefs in 2017 and has been their kicker since then. He has won three Super Bowls, was the NFL Scoring leader in 2018, made the longest field goal in a Super Bowl: 57 yards (LVIII). He has kicked nine field goals in the Super Bowl.
His Chiefs records include he booted 38 field goals during his 2017 rookie campaign. Points by a rookie with 142, points by a kicker in 2017 with 142. The longest field goal he’s ever made was 62 yards in 2022. His Career field goal percentage (minimum attempts) 89.1 %.
Butker has amassed 992 points during the regular season and 175 more during the playoffs.
When he’s off the field, Butker has been known for some controversial comments which I will not discuss in this story. Feel free to look those up online.
Butker did visit President Donald Trump at the White House in February.
Before Super Bowl 59 In New Orleans, I interviewed Butker for the Motor City Mad Mouth Show and we talked about his successful career with the Kansas City Chiefs and much more.
You can see that interview enclosed in this story.
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In the end, kickers are their own breed. They stand around the sidelines waiting for their moments to kick a game winning field goal. When they miss a field goal, they definitely take a brunt share of it. There are times when a team’s offense stumbles, they kick the only points in wins or losses.
On the big stage, they’re under a larger microscope as the goats or the villains. Teams have been known to go through multiple kickers in a season. Not every kicker has the luxury of kicking in a dome therefore, they have to adjust to all kinds of weather and field conditions, They’ve been known to make touchdown saving tackles on special teams. For the most part they’re isolated and take the least amount of hits of all positions on the field. Their hits are mentally when things go right or badly wrong,
Nevertheless, it’s a key position in football and that’s why I focused on the subject in this story.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at [email protected]. You can find him on X @TribuneSouth. To see his broadcasts, there is no cost to subscribe to the South Florida Tribune YouTube Tube Channel.
Finally, he wrote a book, “Lessons From The Microphone” which can be purchased on Amazon/Kindle and Barnes and Noble. It’s a book that talks about Old School Media vs New School Media and is extremely useful for students getting into the business. The audio book is coming out soon.
