Jude McAtamney

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Jude McAtamney
No. 99 – New York Giants
Position: Placekicker
Personal information
Born: (2000-05-09) May 9, 2000 (age 24) [1]
Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school: St Patrick's College, Maghera
(Maghera, County Londonderry)
College: Chowan (2021)
Rutgers (2022–2023)
Undrafted: 2024
Career history
Roster status:Active/international

Jude McAtamney (born May 9, 2000) [1] is an Irish professional American football placekicker for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Originally a Gaelic footballer, he later switched to American football and played at the college level for the Chowan Hawks and Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Contents

Early life

McAtamney was born in Derry, County Londonderry, in Northern Ireland. [2] His grandfather, Harry Cassidy, was a Gaelic footballer and manager for Bellaghy GAC and the Derry county football team. [3] McAtamney grew up in the village of Swatragh and played Gaelic football with his six brothers. [3] He later played for the under-20 football team of Derry GAA and helped them win the Ulster Under-20 Football Championship in 2018. [3]

McAtamney attended St Patrick's College, Maghera, and later studied for two years at St Mary's University College, Belfast. [3] [4]

College football career

In May 2020, McAtamney became interested in American football after noticing, through Twitter, Irish punter David Shanahan accept an athletic scholarship to play college football in the U.S. for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. [5] He bought some equipment on eBay and began practicing at a local Gaelic football field. [5] He recorded himself and sent a message to Shanahan, who referred McAtamney to ProKick Australia, a program to help develop college football punters and placekickers. [5]

Those at ProKick were impressed by McAtamney but he was unable to travel to Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions. [5] After several months, Tom Hackett offered to work with him and Shanahan in the U.S., in January 2021 [5] The two trained for two weeks in Serbia and then were cleared to travel. [6] He trained with Hackett for several months and was able to consistently make 50-yard field goals in practice. [5] He later returned to Swatragh and continued training, being able to make field goals of over 60 yards by June 2021. [5]

In July 2021, McAtamney received and accepted a scholarship offer to play for the Chowan Hawks of Chowan University in North Carolina, an NCAA Division II program. [5] [7] [8] In his first season, he appeared in nine games and made 6-of-10 field goal attempts and converted all 47 of his extra point tries, also having 60 kickoffs with 19 touchbacks. [5] He entered the NCAA transfer portal after the year and underwent training with ProKick in Australia in the 2022 off-season. [5]

McAtamney ultimately transferred to the FBS-level Rutgers Scarlet Knights and won the starting placekicker role. [9] That season, he was successful on 12-of-18 field goals, with a long of 49 yards, and made 23-of-24 extra points in 12 games played. [4] [10] He was the team's leading scorer with 59 total points and also made 47 kickoffs for 2,787 yards with 17 touchbacks. [4] In his last year, [lower-alpha 1] he only attempted one field goal, a miss, after having been replaced by Jai Patel, but remained the kickoff specialist, posting a team record 40 touchbacks on 60 kickoffs. [4] [11]

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
HeightWeightArm lengthHand span
6 ft 1 in
(1.85 m)		208 lb
(94 kg)		30+5⁄8 in
(0.78 m)		8+1⁄4 in
(0.21 m)
All values from Pro Day [12]

After impressing at his pro day, McAtamney was invited to tryout for the New York Giants, where made made all 10 of his attempted kicks in front of scouts. [6] [13] He was not selected in the 2024 NFL draft, but afterwards signed with the Giants as an undrafted free agent. [14] [15] He was assigned the team's exempt/international roster spot as part of the International Player Pathway Program (IPPP). [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ McAtamney only had three years of eligibility in college football due to having attended St Mary's University College, Belfast, for a time. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

In American football, a touchback is a ruling that is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to travel over or across the goal line but did not have possession of the ball when it became dead. Since the 2018 season, touchbacks have also been awarded in college football on kickoffs that end in a fair catch by the receiving team between its own 25-yard line and goal line. In the 2023 season, the NFL adopted the same rules as college football in regards to awarding touchbacks on kickoffs that end in a fair catch. In 2024, the NFL moved the placement of the ball after a touchback on a kickoff to the receiving team's 30-yard line; this was part of a radical change to the league's kickoff procedure. Such impetus may be imparted by a kick, pass, fumble, or in certain instances by batting the ball. A touchback is not a play, but a result of events that may occur during a play. A touchback is the opposite of a safety with regard to impetus since a safety is scored when the ball becomes dead in a team's end zone after that team — the team whose end zone it is — caused the ball to cross the goal line.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Jude McAtamney". ourlads.com. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Deren, Bobby (23 August 2022). "Jude McAtamney took long path to become Rutgers' starting kicker". 247Sports .
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 O'Kane, Cahair (11 August 2021). "McAtamney kicking down doors in pursuit of American dream". The Irish News – via archive.ph.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jude McAtamney". Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Fonseca, Brian (24 August 2022). "Jude McAtamney's incredible journey from Gaelic football prospect to Rutgers' starting kicker". NJ.com .
  6. 1 2 Boyle, Donnchadh (5 May 2024). "Jude McAtamney takes Giants step on way to living his dream in the NFL". Irish Independent – via archive.ph.
  7. ↑ McCoy, Niall (6 August 2021). "Derry player Jude McAtamney chasing American Football dream". RTÉ.
  8. ↑ McMullan, Michael (7 August 2021). "Former Derry GAA underage player Jude McAtamney has eyes on an American football career". DerryNow.com – via archive.ph.
  9. ↑ Iseman, Chris (24 August 2022). "From Gaelic football to Rutgers: Meet new starting kicker Jude McAtamney". Asbury Park Press .
  10. ↑ Johns, Nathan (29 April 2024). "Former Derry footballer Jude McAtamney signs with the New York Giants". The Irish Times .
  11. ↑ Ryan, Eoin (29 April 2024). "Derry kicker Jude McAtamney signs for New York Giants". RTÉ.
  12. ↑ "2024 NFL Draft Scout Jude McAtamney College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  13. ↑ Horesh, Laurie (3 May 2024). "How Irish kicker Jude McAtamney went from Gaelic football to New York Giants via Australia". ESPN.
  14. ↑ "McAtamney 'had a feeling' Giants move would happen". BBC. 1 May 2024.
  15. ↑ Tsakonas, Chris (4 May 2024). "Former Rutgers kicker Jude McAtamney details journey to the NY Giants". 247Sports .
  16. ↑ Salomone, Dan (10 May 2024). "Giants sign 8 undrafted rookies, including 1 international player". New York Giants.
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