As time goes by, becoming more diverse, it's amazing to be a part of this," Koo says. Younghoe Koo profile page, biographical information, injury history and news For his part, Koo tries to ignore the rising attention he's receiving, focusing on the week's game, one kick at a time. Georgia Southern kicker Younghoe Koo sees your spinning trick field goal, Andy Phillips, and he raises you a backflip. With his mom, a nurse, working long hours and his dad back in Korea, Koo spent many of his days alone at home, learning to cook dinner for himself and managing the balance between his schoolwork and everything he needed to get done for football. 1 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (12-0) and No. I didn't know what to think. The pair immediately got to work, and despite Koo's setback with the Chargers, Carney quickly realized Koo didn't represent a long-term project to get back on track for an NFL career. Koo made just three of his first six field goal attempts, missing a game-tying attempt against the Denver Broncos in the season opener and a game-winning attempt against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2. WHEN KOO'S DEADLINE came up in April 2020, his life couldn't have felt further from that day in Los Angeles. IN SEPTEMBER 2017, 23-year-old Younghoe Koo was living the life he dreamed up for himself way back in middle school. In 2020, Koo will earn a base salary of $750,000, while carrying a cap hit of $750,000. Daniel Jeremiah's takeaways include comparisons with Andrew Luck and Dak Prescott. Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence announced his intention to enter the 2021 NFL Draft on Wednesday. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. Three years, and only three years. • Depth charts for every team » "It's a lot of pressure, for sure. IN SEPTEMBER 2017, 23-year-old Younghoe Koo was dwelling the life he dreamed up for himself approach again in center faculty. Sun 11/22 1:25 PM PST . 2 Clemson vs. No. And while others, including Hines Ward and Kyler Murray, share Korean ancestry, Koo feels the weight of representation. All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. In eight games with the Legends, Koo was perfect on 14 field goal attempts -- and, more important, was back on the radar of NFL teams. ARI. ATL. "Any time you have representation that's been missing in any sport, it's exciting for a group of people. It doesn't really matter what I have done so far," Koo says. More NFL coverage », Koo soon joined a team and became a star wide receiver and cornerback, with his kickoffs regularly reaching 50 yards on the 80-yard pee wee field. The College Football Playoff Selection Committee unveiled matchups for its four-team field Sunday, pitting No. "My parents didn't know what football was. NO. American-football player (1994-) These 3 games stream live in the Yahoo Sports app. During his 2020 season with the Atlanta Falcons, Koo was selected to his first Pro Bowl. It's definitely passed down from our parents, from their parents. But his dad, Hyungseo Koo -- a business professor who stayed behind in Seoul but visited for a few months every year -- encouraged him to branch out so that he could learn English from his new classmates. When he couldn't find fields with goalposts, he looked for trees, mentally marking branches as his targets. "It's cool," he said Tuesday after the announcement. All that work and on-field success didn't go unnoticed: As of Monday, Koo is also a Pro Bowler. Koo's play this season has made him by far the most successful Asian American kicker to play among the highest levels of football, and one of just a few in history. Thu 11/19 5:20 PM PST. College football lost arguably its most electrifying offensive player on Saturday when Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle injured his right ankle in Alabama's 48-17 win over rival Tennessee. • Football Power Index rankings » 1994 "Another lesson I've learned from my rookie year is that I'm very grateful for the support from everyone, but it can disappear overnight if I don't perform on the field," he says. That early sense of independence -- and the isolation he remembered from being an immigrant and outsider when he first moved to the United States -- has aligned well with the isolation of being a kicker in the NFL. Younghoe Koo was born in South Korea on August 3, 1994. "I wanted to knock him out for not coming to me sooner," Carney says. By late 2018, at the halfway mark of his career clock countdown, Koo realized that, despite the progress he'd made with Carney, he didn't have any new game tape to show teams. Koo got invited to kick off, and the South Korean-born, soccer-loving middle schooler booted the pigskin with authority. He beat out the incumbent, Josh Lambo, in training camp and was about to become the fourth player born in South Korea in NFL history. The second one we got again, I was like, 'Whatever.' "I s--- you not, it was straight out of 'The Sandlot.' This year, he has improved on every element of last year's success. At first, Koo gravitated toward the familiar -- kids who came from similar backgrounds, spoke fluent Korean and ate the same foods. Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller made history on Saturday, becoming the first woman to score in a Power Five game when she connected on an extra point in the first quarter against Tennessee. ATL. You have to play football. "First one we got, and I wasn't really celebrating or whatever. "If something's not going as planned, if he gets cut, that only makes him work harder," Maurer says. The Chargers went 0-4. Make your picks throughout the playoffs and compete for $30,000! Sun 11/22 1:25 PM PST . As the COVID-19 pandemic set in, Koo snuck onto fields across New Jersey, where he was living with Maurer's family, to practice. Sun 11/22 10:00 AM PST. Sun 11/22 10:00 AM PST. FOX. Four weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day in Week 13, he got his major moment in the spotlight, when he helped convert three onside kicks against the New Orleans Saints. I was just there, and then the next thing I know, I'm unemployed. NFL and the NFL shield design are registered trademarks of the National Football League.The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated. But all the while, Koo was unemployed -- and running out of money. 4 Notre Dame, and No. IN SEPTEMBER 2017, 23-year-old Younghoe Koo was living the life he dreamed up for himself way back in middle school. A few months after graduating from Georgia Southern as a first-team all-conference kicker, Koo signed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent. "My dad knew I had the athleticism, so he gave me the chance to not have to get all A's but get B's and pursue football, just to go play.". Browse 224 younghoe koo stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Koo was named Special Teams Player of the Week for the NFC for his efforts. COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) — Younghoe Koo didn't know much about football when he saw his new seventh-grade classmates in New Jersey playing two-hand touch during lunch recess. THAT SUCCESS WITH the Falcons in 2019 meant that when Koo's April 2020 deadline came up, he wasn't searching for a desk job -- he was preparing to join camp as Atlanta's starting kicker. When the clock ran out, he would force himself to find something else to do with his life. "I just felt independent from a very young age.". "Realistically, it's not going to happen with an NFL team.". Watch on ESPN+. But it was all about building a résumé, getting more exposure, the name getting bigger on a radar.". If you look at the stats, it's like you kick it there and see what happens.". Although he was released 11 days later, this time he spent just two weeks waiting for his next gig: On Oct. 29, the Atlanta Falcons offered him a contract to replace Matt Bryant, the franchise's leading scorer, who was just 9-for-14 on the season. Carney, who hosts an annual summit for collegiate special-teams stars from around the country before the draft, had first heard of Younghoe Koo years earlier. Standing outside the Chargers' facility, three years didn't seem like very long at all. ARI. ", Carney, too, hopes to keep Koo's attention on the field. She is one of many journalists and fans who took note as the story of his comeback gained notoriety -- and led to the emergence on social media of the #KooHive. BUT THAT SOLITUDE took on a new tone when, in October 2017, Koo found himself out of the NFL and -- for the first time since middle school -- without football in his life. "'It happened again. Koo finished off his first eight games in Atlanta 23-for-26 on field goal attempts.