Marquette King

Marquette King (born October 26, 1988) is an American football punter who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Fort Valley State.^[1] King is the only current African American punter in the NFL.

College career

King attended Fort Valley State University, and in his senior year was an All-First Team Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member and the 2011 FVSU Wildcats Most Valuable Player. During the 2011 season King punted 80 yards against Bethune-Cookman University. During the 2011 season, King led the Conference in punting with a 43 yards per punt average, with 21 punts landing inside his opponents' 20-yard-line. Sixteen of his punts were for 50 yards or more.

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

After the 2012 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders signed King to a three-year deal to compete with or eventually replace veteran Shane Lechler. In training camp, King took most of the punting snaps due to an earlier injury to Lechler. King impressed the coaches enough to be kept on the roster but was placed on injured reserve for the entire 2012 NFL season.

With Lechler signing a free-agent contract with the Houston Texans, King competed for the Oakland Raiders punting job during the 2013 preseason with experienced veteran Chris Kluwe. The regular season job was left to King after the Raiders cut Kluwe at the conclusion of the preseason.

References

External links

• Oakland Raiders bio
• Marquette King on Twitter