Justin Tucker: Already the Best, Still in the Making

by claire kramer

Through seven seasons in Baltimore, kicker Justin Tucker has cemented himself in both Ravens and NFL lore.

There’s seemingly not much about him that hasn’t already been lauded, and rightfully so. Boasting a 90.5 career field goal percentage, two Pro Bowls and more than 900 points scored, no one is shy about giving Tucker credit. But, the most accurate kicker in league history also knows a thing or two about credit, and the often-comedic Tucker becomes quite serious when talking about the people who have shaped his career, molded his life and provided endless support.

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His parents, Paul and Michelle: “In high school, my dad said that it’s important to be well-rounded, so that you can get your foot in as many doors as possible. And then, it’s important to work to be great at maybe one or two things. So, you’re not just trying to get your foot in the door; you’re trying to open it, or you’re trying to create your own opportunities.

He said, ‘You can work to be the absolute best at one specific thing, and you can make an incredible life for yourself. You can provide for your family. You can create opportunities not just for yourself but for others. And then, you can have an opportunity to transcend an entire industry, if you so choose.’”

Derek Long and Mark Hurst, his football coaches at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas: “Coach Long instilled into all of us principles of integrity and accountability and doing the little things correctly. He truly was all about it. We would have two five-minute water breaks, where you would run over to a set of coolers, grab a couple cups of water, and then run back out to practice. And, if you didn’t run all the way to the cooler, he’d call you out and make you come back and do it again. So, you learn pretty quickly that you’re going to do the little things right. Those were the principles I learned playing football with Coach Long and Coach Hurst, who has since passed. But, the legacy that [Hurst] left as a 14 | 2018 BALTIMORE RAVENS GAMEDAY

football coach and as a teacher, as a father and husband and as a role model, is certainly one to be remembered.”

Photo: University of Texas

Mack Brown, his head coach at the University of Texas: “Mack Brown came up with a motto we had one year. We had these stretch wristbands that everybody wore, and on them, it said, ‘Consistently good to be great.’ So many times, you’ll hear about a football player or an athlete pressing too hard, trying to just be more than they even know they need to be, when all you need to be to be great is consistent. You need to be good

consistently, and then you’ll be regarded as one of the best to do it. I think about that when I come out here and kicking balls at practice in Owings Mills. I think about just being consistently good in a job where my kicks or either good or no good. If you’re good, you can carve out a pretty nice career for yourself.”

Ravens special teams coordinator/associate head coach Jerry Rosburg and specialists coach Randy Brown: “I think … I don’t think. I know, without a doubt in my mind, that I wouldn’t have even had a chance to play in this league if it wasn’t for Jerry finding me at Texas. He found me, and then my second day of training camp my rookie year, both he and Randy sat down with me in Jerry’s office and told me, ‘These are the things you need to do to transform yourself into an NFL kicker.’ They said, ‘If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll make some kicks, but you’ll be

about a 75-, 80- percent guy in the AFC North. The way we play here, we need you to be significantly better than that if we want to accomplish what we want to accomplish.’ So, I did everything I could to be all ears and heed whatever advice they had for me, because I was at a point where I had nothing to lose. I had everything to gain.”

Holder Sam Koch and long snapper Morgan Cox: “I talk about them all the time, and I sound like a broken record, but it’s because it is so true.

Morgan and Sam make my job much easier than it could be. When you’re a kicker and you don’t have to think twice about where the snap is going to be, or how the timing of the snap and the hold is going to play out, all I have to focus on is kicking the ball. It’s like a driver on a tee box. It turns what could be a chaotic event into a static ball moment. They’re also

both great friends and great teammates, and it doesn’t just stop there. They’re great fathers and husbands and brothers and sons, and to be around guys like that as much as we are around each other… I’d much rather be around quality men than just anybody else.”

His wife, Amanda, and son, Easton: “Saving the best for last would be my wife, Amanda, and, of course, our son, Easton. He certainly has a good idea of what I’m doing, and he thinks it’s really cool. So, that gets me really fired up.

I think that’s just awesome. I look at Easton, and I gain instant perspective that anything that I could possibly

be doing in life should be for him. It should be for my family.

It should be for Amanda. In a sense, nothing else really matters at the end of the day as long as we’re all a happy family. That’s what matters to me. Knowing that I have the unending support of my significantly better half, Amanda, just grants me a happiness and a peace that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I love both of them dearly, and to have them in my life, to be a part of their lives, just gives me the perspective that I think fuels me to be the best – not only the best football player that I can be, but just the best person that I can be.”

Photo: Dunks Photo/Chesapeake Family Magazine