Johnny Hekker
John Robert Hekker[2] (born February 8, 1990) is an American football punter for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon State and was signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Hekker is a four-time First-team All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler. He also holds the NFL record for longest punt in Super Bowl history, with a 65-yarder that he delivered in Super Bowl LIII.
No. 10 – Carolina Panthers
February 8, 1990
Redmond, Washington, U.S.
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
225 lb (102 kg)
Oregon State (2008–2011)
Active
890
890
41,714
46.9
78
354
Early years[edit]
Hekker attended Bothell High School in Bothell, Washington, and graduated in 2008.[3] He was the starting quarterback and punter of the Cougars football team during his senior year, leading them to a State Championship game, which they lost. He also briefly played basketball for the school in his senior year.[4]
College career[edit]
Hekker played for the Oregon State Beavers football team while attending Oregon State University.[5] In 2008, Hekker was named the Sun Bowl Special Teams MVP after averaging 45 yards on 10 punts, including boots of 57 and 52 yards in the fourth quarter of a 3–0 win for the Beavers over the Pitt Panthers.[6] He was a four-year starter and finished his college career as one of Oregon State's most prolific punters. As a Beaver, he set a single-game school record with a 52.5 average (six punts for 315 yards) against the Utah Utes in 2011.[7]
Hekker ranked third-best in career-punt yardage in school history with a solid 41.3 yards average per punt.[8] In 2011, he earned College Football Performance Award Punter of the Week and was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List – given annually to the nation's best punter. In 2009, he was semi-finalist for the Ray Guy Award and the Phil Steele All-Pac-10 Second-team. As a senior, Hekker recorded a total of 52 career punts over 50 yards, including 17 when he had six different games with at least one punt of 60+ yards.
Hekker earned Pac-12 Conference Honorable Mention with 87 career punts downed inside the 20-yard line in 2011. He also had at least one punt of 50+ yards in every game but one in 2010.
Hekker had several memorable kicks as a Beaver. One was the second-longest punt in school history. The punt went for 74 yards in 2010 against USC.[9] Another was a negative-yardage punt when he shanked the ball for a loss of 4 yards.[10]
For three years, Hekker also worked as the holder on placekicks.
Media appearances[edit]
Hekker was the main athlete featured in a 2013 Dude Perfect YouTube video titled "NFL Kicking Edition | Dude Perfect" along with Rams teammates Greg Zuerlein and Jake McQuaide.[70]
In 2018 Hekker appeared on the Netflix cooking show Nailed It as a guest judge for season 2 episode 3, titled "Tailgate, Failgate."[71] During his introduction, he apologized that the show had to settle for a punter as a special guest for the football-themed episode.