Jeff Feagles Visits Rutgers University

On monday rock star NFL punter, Jeff Feagles, took it to the classroom when he met with a group of undergraduate Journalism and Media Studies students at Rutgers University. Feagles came to the University thanks to long time friend and columnist for the Bergen Record, Tara Sullivan, who happened to be teaching the class.

Feagles played in the NFL for 22 years and recently retired in 2009 after 6 seasons with the New York Giants. Feagles started his NFL career as a New England Patriot and remained with them for just his rookie season before leaving New England for Eagles. In his 22 years in the League he played for the New England Patriots (1988-1989) , Philadelphia Eagles (1989-1993), Arizona Cardinals (1994-1997), Seattle Seahawks (1998-2002), and lastly with the New York Giants (2003-2009). Feagles ended his career with stats that set him far apart from any other punter in the game. Through the end of his NFL career in 2009 he held the a 6 records. They included:

• Most consecutive games played, career: 352,
• Most total games played, career: third place, 352
• Most punts, career: 1,713
• Most punts inside the 20, career: 497
• Most punting yards, career: 71,211
• Holds record for longevity of all players from Tecmo Super bowl: 18 years

Feagles may be known for his incredible accuracy as a punter in the NFL, but what he brought with him to the classroom was much more than a few stats and alot of records. Feagles presented himself as more than a leader on the football field to this group of students. He was calm and seemed to let loose quite quickly. He even made a joke or two about the “Tebow” ordeal. The meeting for the students was an opportunity to ask questions to one of the greats. The questions asked throughout the interview ranged from how he balanced his social life and marriage to wife Michelle while being a member of the NFL to how he mentally dealt with coming to grips with the fact that his career was over after a staggering 22 years.

When asked about how he mentally dealt with retirement his response was, “It was the hardest thing of my life to know that something I had done for 22 years was over just like that. But what I did was I stayed involved as much as I could. Some of my best friends are a part of the team and they have also been a huge help. For you I think it is important to find something you love outside of your sport and just dive right in. Keep yourself busy, but never forget.”

Every question Feagles was asked he answered in as much detail as possible. He was open to any questions and encouraged the students to be open with him. Feagles even touched on personal issues and his ordeal with Plaxico Burress which involved never being paid for his jersey number. “Yeah i never got that backyard kitchen he promised, ” Feagles said, “and believe me I tried and reminded him as often as possible.”
“He basically stole my number”, Feagles said.

Feagles admitted that the season following retirement was the hardest year. He recounted his ordeal with Matt Dodge, the punter that was set to replace him, and admitted that it was the hardest thing he could have done and possibly one of the  most frustrating as well. Emotionally Feagles admitted that when he attended the first game of the following season after retirement he actually had to the leave the stadium when he heard his teams song come on. The song was too much for him. Feagles said, “I just pulled my hood up over my head and i walked out.” Feagles admitted that his season tickets for that year were given to his next door neighbor.

At the end of the interview Feagles thanked the class and proceeded to sign a few autographs and took a few pictures with some of the student before leaving the classroom.

Feagles currently resides in Ridgewood, NJ. He is married to wife Michelle. They have four sons: Christopher (nicknamed C.J.), Blake, Trevor and Zachary. Christopher is a punter for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football team and played in the US Army high-school All-American game in 2008. He enjoys swimming regularly with a masters team as well as playing as much golf as he can.



(yardbarker.com)