Kickers (and long snappers) are humans too. We’ve seen over the years how difficult it is to get credible special teams players in the Spring League, but let’s be honest here. The odds of a specialist being picked in this draft are incredibly low. The fall XFL Draft is set to take place after the NFL makes its final round of preseason cuts, at which point there will be a plethora of specialist options.

Sill, that doesn’t mean the NFL has scooped up all the talented kickers, punters and long snappers. They could be the longest, but here are the five specialists most likely to be drafted on Friday.

wild card) Daniel Gutierrez, UNLV, kicker

First of all, there is a man with an enormous amount of natural talent. Daniel Gutierrez has been involved in sports since he started playing soccer at the age of four. Even at such a young age, his legs were so strong that his mother had to bring his birth certificate to every match to prove his age.

He didn’t kick American football until eighth grade. His friend and future UNLV teammate noticed that Daniel regularly kicked a soccer ball 80 yards and convinced him to try the same with an American ball. Despite being too young to be on the national team, Daniel attended tryouts and effortlessly completed a 40-yard kick. is he ready? I’m watching a YouTube tutorial on how to become a kicker.

When he goes to high school, he will be on the national team. He hit a 54-yard field goal in his junior year and an offer came in. Daniel was scouted from Boise State University, Missouri, Arizona, and Alabama. He declined all offers to move closer to his home and continued working for UNLV.

After a tough sophomore year in which he almost quit football due to lack of minutes, he became a full-time placekicker for the Rebels. In his sixth year as an ultra senior, Daniel finished in the semi-finals of the Lou Grosa Award and was nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy.

Scouts noted that Daniel remains incredibly accurate below 50 yards, but becomes quite unstable above 50 yards. Ideally, that’s something he can improve on, but his accuracy in short yards could be very valuable to the XFL’s kickoff.

5) Briggs Bourgeois, Southern Miss, Kicker

If the draft was all about the best names out of college, Briggs Bourgeois would be going head-to-head with Hampton wide receiver Jadakiss Bonds. Luckily for Briggs, he’s also a very solid kicker.

In high school, Briggs was a runner-up in that he played wide receiver, kicker, and dabbled in kick returns. That kick was a result of his love of football. His original goal was to become a Division I footballer like his older brother.

He attended Southern Miss before his final year of high school and once there he devoted himself to kicking. In his freshman year, he took charge of the kickoff and became famous for his ability to boom the ball out of the back of the end zone. In 2018, he only played in the kickoff, and started only one game when the regular kicker was injured.

Briggs wore a medical redshirt in 2019, but returned as a full-fledged starter in 2020. The year will be the highlight of his time in college. He led the team in scoring (65 points) and was named a Conference USA Honorary Award. He played two more seasons, but was not made to the All-Conference team and was not nominated for the Lou Groza Award. Yet his kicking stats were still very respectable. In his final year, he scored 90 points, kicked 53 yards, and shot 94.7 percent of field goals (better than any XFL kicker in his senior year).

The main challenge for Briggs is that he needs more control on kickoff. His regular kicks in college are good for scoring touchbacks, but in the XFL they’re a great way to score penalties pile up.

4) Jake Gerardi, Punter, Southern Utah

Yet another player who initially devoted himself entirely to football but was recruited into the world of American football. Jake Gerardi started out as a goaltender and hoped to take it to the next level. But he will change his mind because football can cost more. He also worked his way up a semi-Ironman by playing as a wide receiver, tight end, kicker and punter.

Jake attended Azusa Pacific University, hoping to split his time between tight end and kicker. He would play in his freshman year, but only in kickoffs. He redshirted the following year and became a full-time starting punter upon his return in 2019. By the end of the year, he was named to the All-GNAC First Team. The problem, however, is that Azusa Pacific will end its soccer program in 2020.

Jake primarily tapes teams at the FCS Big Sky Conference and finds a new home in Southern Utah. He was a starting punter for the next three seasons and ended up being named FCS All-American First Team and Western Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year.

If an XFL team were looking for a punter in form, Jake would be an easy choice. His longest punt clock was 73 yards, averaging 48.1 yards. Race Porter was the only current XFL punter to average more yards per punt in his senior year. Also, Jake hit a 46-yard field goal in college, so if you really want him kicking, he’s not a bad option.

3) Robert Soderholm, VMI, Long Snapper

That’s right, everyone! Long snapper time. Throw the ball farther than usual. A ridiculously long tenure could be secured in professional football. I lived in complete obscurity until something went terribly wrong. It has everything we love about the most discreet position in the sport. And, sure, it’s pretty hard to tell a long snapper from another, but Robert Soderholm makes it pretty easy to tell he’s the best player at the position.

Like Luis Perez and the aforementioned Daniel Gutierrez, Robert self-taught himself long snaps through YouTube. He started playing center in middle school and figured learning this special skill would help him secure his place on the team. He turned to linebacker in high school, but his physique remained the same as his classmates continued to grow. However, he knew how to take the long snap and was able to secure his spot as part of his national team.

After high school, he attended the Virginia Military Institute on a half-scholarship from ROTC. He joined the football team as a preferred walk-on and was the team’s starting long snapper for five years. He was named to the FCS All-American First Team in 2019, 2020 and 2022. He was also named to the first-team SoCon for 2021 and 2022, but only after they created a long snapper spot, especially in the year-end team.

He was invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl and the NFLPA College Bowl, and consequently to minicamp with the Seahawks. In addition, he was promoted to second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.

What makes Robert special is that VMI ran an NFL-style punting scheme. Most college long snappers aren’t expected to block, but Robert did. He was also expected to escape blocks after a punt and be ready to take down returners, which he would accomplish seven times throughout his career. I don’t know which teams are looking to acquire the long snapper, but if there is a vacancy, it would make a lot of sense to use the draft pick for Soderholm.

2) Kyle Ulbrich, Punter, Middle Tennessee

Next is the first kicker who didn’t start with football. Apparently, it used to be common for junior national teams to employ a very violent punt system. The punter takes the snap from under center, drops back in five steps, and then punts. Thanks to this rule, Kyle Ulbrich just made punts part of his skill set.

During his freshman year, Kyle alternated as quarterback and wide receiver. He was already behind center most of the time, so he taught himself how to punt. This turned out well as he proved to be a good enough kicker and punter to make it into the national team. In his senior year, he transferred to a prep school and made the All-County kickboxing. He would get offers, but Valparaiso was the only school that agreed to allow him to kick and punt.

After being redshirted in his first year, Kyle was put into a full-time punt. However, his promise that he would also kick was relegated to practice. At the end of the season, Kyle wondered if he could succeed at a higher level. His temptation became too strong and he left for FBS Middle Tennessee.

In his first year, he was only used as a long-distance punter, but by 2020 he was a full-time starter. He was named to the All-Conference USA First Team in his final year and was added to the Ray Guy Award watchlist. Any team that acquires him will get a punter with great consistency. He is good at punts more than 60 times a year, averaging 47.1 yards per his boot, and his career long is his 75 yards.

1) Gavin Bekl, UTEP, Kicker

Finally, we introduce one of the most despised figures in NFL preseason contracts: Gavin Bakle. Gavin played as a kicker and punter in high school and put together a nearly perfect streak as a kicker.

UTEP’s team profile lists Gavin as both a kicker and a punter, but all his stats are as a kicker. After taking charge of the kickoff during his freshman year, he took the starting position and never looked back. Until his senior year, his grades were good, but nothing earth-shaking. He was second on the team in scoring (38) in 2020 and was named a Conference USA Honorary Award in 2019 and 2021.

In 2022, Gavin posted his best season yet. He made 22 of 24 field goals and made a perfect extra point to score 97 points for the Minors. More importantly, Gavin was named Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year. He was also selected as a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award, but was not selected as one of the three finalists. In particular, this embarrassed Giants kicker Graham Gano.