Rams News: Late-Round Los Angeles Draft Pick Grew Up Playing Totally Different Sport

The Horns drafted for help at an interesting position.

Aug 12, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; A Play Football logo in the Los Angeles Rams end zone. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

One of the Los Angeles Rams' new draft picks grew up expecting to play in an entirely different sport.

Per Logan Campbell of WMFY News 2, Joshua Karty (one of just three kickers selected in the 2024 NFL Draft) fully anticipated he would be a soccer player.

"I didn't start playing football until I was 14," Karty said. "I never thought I would be playing football at all actually."

Karty grew up in a household where he was forbidden from playing football, until he eventually agitated for playing at a no-contact position, after best friend Hiral Patel encouraging him to trying kicking some field goals during a football tryout.

"He came back right after that and said, 'Mom, I know I'm not allowed to play football, but there's this position called a kicker, that you're not allowed to be hit,'" mother Valarie said. "So I signed the form allowing him to play football."

Karty reflected on his first-ever football game to Campbell.

"We were playing against Cummings High School, and I look around and there's like 2,000 people around in the high school football stadium," Karty reminisced. "That was the first thing I noticed was like, wow, football is kind of a big deal."

It sure is, as he continued to learn at Stanford. Los Angeles selected the two-time All-American First Teamer with the No. 209 pick in the sixth round of the draft last month.

More Rams: Braden Fiske Contract Details Revealed with Decent Amount Guaranteed