Vanderbilt was 0-7 going into today’s college football game against Missouri, and both their kickers were quarantined, so they did the publicity stunt of dressing the school’s women’s soccer team goalie as their placekicker. This was hyped as the first time ever a woman had played in big time college football.
Here is her only action all day in the 0-41 loss: a kickoff that merely got to the 35 yard line. (The standard for college football kickers is to be able to fly the ball at least to the goal line, an additional 35 yards, with considerable height to allow the defenders time to run down field.)
My guess is that if Vanderbilt had held an open audition, they would have found over 100 male undergrads who can kick off deeper than the best woman kicker on campus. In their defense, lots of people had gone home over Thanksgiving, so they probably wouldn’t have gotten a big turnout. But every single fraternity would have a half dozen members who can kick further, plus every single guy on Vanderbilt’s men’s soccer team.
Oh, wait …
Incredible that a women's soccer player was called up to the football team for kicking duties.
— J. Reuben Clark (@JReubenCIark) November 28, 2020
All it took was guts, determination, and federal legislation to destroy men's sports teams in favor of women's sports teams. https://t.co/MC2Sj7zDHy pic.twitter.com/WvfX9LTuGC
Even so, colleges are full of guys who were pretty good players in high school on football or soccer teams but don’t pursue official sports in college.
For example, from CBS News in 2015, the story of an open tryout to find a backup placekicker at the U. of Florida:
Florida names dental student backup kicker after open tryouts
21-year-old Neil MacInnes is ‘a senior studying to be a dental ceramist’ at the University of Florida. He’s now also the Gators’ backup placekicker.
By Jerry Hinnen
Oct 30, 2015 at 3:22 pm ETRemember 11 days ago, when Florida held open tryouts among the student body for a backup placekicker? The Gators have their man — and he’s every bit the everyman you’d have expected from that kind of tryout.
Florida unveiled 21-year-old Neil MacInnes with a profile at the official Gators’ site Friday, describing him as “a senior studying to be a dental ceramist” at the university … until he also became the No. 11 team in the country’s No. 2 placekicker. MacInnes has traveled with the team to Jacksonville for this Saturday’s showdown with arch-rivals Georgia (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
“It’s pretty much a dream come true,” MacInnes said. “I wanted to kick in high school and obviously being part of this organization, and Gator Nation, is kind of cool.”
MacInnes was one of 216 students to try out following Florida’s backup kicker Jorge Powell suffering a season-ending leg injury vs. LSU. MacInnes kicked for Tampa’s Chamberlain High School during his junior and senior seasons, having already starred for the school’s track and soccer teams. He appeared in a 2011 area all-star game at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, hitting both a 48 and 43-yarder — his most recent kicks in actual competition.
MacInnes, a 6-4 and 225 pound high school valedictorian, attempted 3 points after touchdown in his college career, missing the first and making the next two.
In the National Hockey League, the home team designates somebody, such as the Zamboni machine driver, who can suit up to play goalie in case both goalies on the home or visiting team get hurt.
Carolina Hurricanes’ emergency backup goalie beats Toronto Maple Leafs
Dave Ayres is a 42-year-old Zamboni driver and kidney-transplant recipient. He gets his first NHL win after Carolina’s two goalies leave the game hurt.
He was the oldest rookie to make his debut in a North American major league game since Satchel Paige in 1948.
