What you need to know about Buccaneers kicker Roberto Aguayo
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a surprising selection during the second round of the 2016 NFL draft, trading up to the No. 59 pick to draft kicker Roberto Aguayo out of Florida State.
You might be wondering, who is this guy? He must be pretty special if he’s a kicker going in the second round.
We don’t know how the pick will turn out for the Bucs, but we can tell you more about Aguayo. Let us help you get to now Tampa Bay’s second-round pick.
He was outstanding in college
There’s a reason why Aguayo was selected this high. He missed only nine kicks during his entire college career, and won the Lou Groza award for best kicker during his freshman season. In addition to accuracy, Aguayo showed off the strength of his leg, hitting 5-of-8 field goals from over 50 yards. And he kicked in some pretty big moments, including the Seminoles’ rivarly games, a national championship game and the College Football Playoff. Bucs GM Jason Licht liked all of that.
He used to kick field goals in his backyard
That’s some serious determination. Here’s the story, via The MMQB:
In the backyard of their home in Lake County, near Orlando, Aguayo, Sr., built H-shaped posts out of PVC pipe—it doubled as a soccer goal on the bottom, and field-goal uprights on the top. Roberto, Jr., and his younger brother Ricky, now a freshman kicker at Florida State, would kick until it was too dark to find the balls they had booted into the woods.
He learned to kick by copying others
From the same MMQB story, Aguayo revealed he learned to kick by mimicking the kicking motions of others. Initially, Aguayo used to approach his field goals as if he were kicking a soccer ball. After watching longtime NFLers David Akers and John Carney on TV, Aguayo copied their movements until he had his kicking motion down to an exact science.
Jameis Winston is happy to be reunited with him
Aguayo was teammates with Winston at Florida State. The quarterback was selected No. 1 overall by the Buccaneers last year.
The NFL draft continues Saturday with Rounds 4–7.
