By MICHAEL RYKKEN
Younghoe Koo Signs with LA Chargers
The kick had little chance of going through the uprights to tie the game, after Denver Broncos overwhelmed the Chargers offensive line on the play. An earlier attempt by Younghoe Koo was successful and would have brought the game into overtime, but the kick was called off after the Broncos had called a timeout to ice the kicker right before the snap.
This is an article about a Korean born athlete who moved the the U.S. as a promising athlete as a soccer player, and against all odds picked up the game of football and climbed his way to being a professional athlete in the National Football League as a place kicker.
Ridgewood, NJ native Koo is an NFL free agent who signed with the Los Angeles Chargers as their place kicker in the summer of 2017 as an undrafted free agent. Koo is the first ever football player to make it all the way to the National Football League.
“We knew the second he touched a football field in high school that Koo was gonna take his talents to the next level, he was and still is an outstanding teammate on and off the field,” said former high school teammate, Jake Mancini.
Koo won the starting job for the Chargers over former kicker Josh Lambo who was the starrting kicker for the chargers from 2015 when they drafted him, following the conclusion of the 2017 preseason. He became the fourth player in NFL history to be born in South Korea.
His track record in the NFL
In the season opener in Denver Colorado on Sept. 11, 2017, Koo’s game tying 44-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of the game was blocked by the Broncos Shelby Harris, and the chargers lost the game 24-21.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSmBuYoOPeQ
The following week after the Denver game, Koo missed a game- winning field goal attempt in a 19-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins. In the following two weeks, Younghoe converted both field goal attempts and four consecutive extra point attempts as he started to gain some convidence as a young NFL place kicker. However, the 0-4 Los Angeles Chargers decided to move on from the rookie kicker after week 4, replacing him with 10-year veteran Nick Novak.
Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn told the media after the decision to move on from Koo that he wanted “someone with a little more consistency and experience.”
” I had no doubt that he would be an all american player in college, but to make it into the NFL was something that still shocks me to this day,” said former teammate Noah Pounds.
Journey to the NFL
Younghoe Koo was born in Seoul, South Korea, to Seugmae Choi and Hynuseo Koo. Growing up Younghoe played soccer, and won several awards including the regional kicking competition. He moved to the United States in 2005 to attend sixth grade at Benjamin Franklin Middle School.
Koo moved to New Jersey to live with his mother who two years earlier came to become a nurse, as his dad saw great potential in his son to become a star athlete. A stranger to football when he arrived on American shores, he picked up the game during lunch recess in seventh grade.
Koo played on the football team for Ridgewood High School, and was named the starting place kicked as a freshman beating out the senior kicker. He was also named team MVP his senior year, contributing on both special teams and defense and a cornerback, where he racked up six interceptions to lead his team.
After an incredible senior year, Koo earned a scholarship to Georgia Southern, becoming a Lou Groza Award finalist, an award given annually to the best college kicker in the nation as well as the school’s first ever FBS all-American. During Koo’s senior year at Georgia Southern he converted 95 percent of his field goals, which was good for second in the whole country.
Koo was a four year contributor for the Georgia Southern Eagles, earning all-Sun Belt first team honors in his final season in college, during which he converted 19 of 20 field goal attempts. At the conclusion of his college career, Koo ultimately converted 88.6% of all his field goal attempts as an eagle, a Georgia Southern team record.
Although Koo was unfortunately cut from the Los Angeles Chargers earlier this year, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he made it to the NFL when all odds were against him. Today Koo, 23 is still living in LA working with a professional football trainer and working close with his agent to quickly get signed by one of the 32 NFL football teams that in need of a new place kicker. Koo recently workout for the Carolina panthers in Charlotte North Carolina. Koo told me “It was a great workout and they like what they see, I’ve been working hard and i’m ready to prove myself as a starting kicker in the NFL,” said Younghoe Koo. Koo is determined that by sometime ion the simmer he will have a new place to call home and prove once again that he belongs in the National Football league.
More: Younghoe Koo 7 things to know
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I thought that this was a very interesting story and a good subject to chose. his journey to the NFL was unique and very interesting. I also liked how you ended with what he is up to now so it allows the reader to stay up to date. Good use of adding videos from Youtube so that there was a visual aspect for the reader. Other than a few minor spelling and punctuation errors this was a well put together story.