By Olivia Craycraft
Medill Reports

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers already holds the NFL record for the most points scored by a kicker in a season. With one game left to play, he could easily tie or break the record for most field goals made in a single season. But before he started breaking records in the NFL, Myers was kicking in a 5,000-seat stadium in Poughkeepsie, New York, for a school that doesn’t even offer athletic scholarships. 

Myers graduated in 2012 from Marist University, which is part of the Pioneer League in the Football Championship Subdivision. He is the third Marist graduate to play in the NFL, and the only one who was undrafted. Myers credits Marist for giving him the work ethic required to make it to the NFL. 

“I was always constantly getting better and always working,” Myers said, “not really worrying about what other people say.”

His success on the field comes from his experience, according to Seahawks special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh. The 11-year NFL veteran has kicked nearly 300 field goals throughout his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks.  

“The level of self-awareness is what really stands out because he’s really good at what he does and he’s been doing it for a long time,” Harbaugh said. “He knows exactly how his body should feel, exactly how the ball should feel on his foot, and he knows how to get himself ready to play.” 

Myers’ coach at Marist, Jim Parady, was once the longest-tenured Division I coach before his retirement in 2023. Parady coached the Red Foxes for 32 years, during which  he led them to 155 wins, four league championships and a transition from Division III to Division I. 

Parady has coached hundreds of talented athletes. But as soon as Myers stepped onto the field at Tenney Stadium, where the Red Foxes play their home games, Parady said he knew he had someone special. 

“He could have played many different positions,” Parady said. “He was that good of an athlete … but kicking was his forte.”

During his college career, Myers did everything related to kicking. Aside from usual kickoffs, extra points and field goals, he was the team’s punter his senior year as well. 

“It is very, very difficult for a kicker because there’s different leg swings, but he was willing to do that for us and for the team,” Parady said. 

Myers is one of 14 active former FCS players who will play in Super Bowl LX. Only he and his teammate, Eric Saubert, come from the Pioneer League. Besides the Ivy League, it is the only FCS conference that doesn’t give athletic scholarships. Recruiting is especially difficult with this barrier.

“You start with a great number of players just because you know in the end that the money factor is going to come down to it and you’re going to lose a lot of people because of it,” Parady said. 

In order to counteract this, Parady made it his goal to develop relationships with his recruits. Myers, who grew up in Chula Vista, California, spent a lot of time on the phone with Parady and other Marist University coaches before he decided to attend Marist. This was only the beginning of their relationship, which is still going strong today. Since his retirement, Parady has been to one or two Seahawks games a year to support Myers. 

“(Parady’s) support, from the moment I stepped on campus to now, has been amazing,” Myers said.  

Parady will be at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday cheering on Myers and checking the Super Bowl off his bucket list. 

Olivia Craycraft is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.