After Iowa kicker Marshall Meeder thought he was ‘done playing football,’ he experiences best moment of career

LINCOLN, Neb. — Not long ago, Marshall Meeder thought he was “done playing football.”

The Central Michigan kicker had entered his name in the transfer portal before spring practices and “talked to a couple schools.”

But the conversations did not go far. At one point in the summer, he even stopped kicking as he planned to finish his engineering degree and “move on” to his post-football life.

"I didn’t think I was going to get another (football) opportunity,“ Meeder said.

When Meeder finally heard from Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods in August, he “figured it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Three months later, Meeder’s intuition led him to quite the memorable moment as the Central Michigan transfer hit the 38-yard game-winning field goal to lift his Hawkeyes past Nebraska, 13-10, on Friday.

Meeder, who was behind a two-year Lou Groza Award semifinalist on the depth chart, “never in a million years” anticipated kicking Friday.

The “crazy experience” was such an unexpected enough moment that much of his family was watching on television rather than attending in person.

“My uncle’s here,” Meeder said. “He drove all the way from Michigan, so I’m so thankful for him to be here and can’t wait to talk to my family.”

Meeder’s specific moment against Nebraska was a result of Stevens’ misfortunes. Stevens had two blocked field goals and two kickoffs that landed out of bounds.

“He’s my brother,” Meeder said of his fellow Iowa kicker. “I wish this was him, honestly, kicking the game-winner. I don’t want to take glory from him or anything. He’s a great kid and great kicker.”

The coaching staff made the switch from Stevens to Meeder as place-kicker at halftime, but the first 29 minutes of the second half did not present any opportunities for Meeder to make his Iowa debut.

“I didn’t know if we were going to get a chance,” Meeder said.

When his opportunity arose in the final seconds of regulation, it was his first kick in a game of importance in 364 days. That last kick was an extra-point attempt and happened in a much different setting.

The Eastern Michigan-Central Michigan game had an announced crowd of 14,213 rather than the 86,183 at Memorial Stadium for Iowa-Nebraska.

But Meeder tried to approach Friday’s kick as if it was the “same kick I’ve always made.”

“It’s just a little bit more pressure,” Meeder said. “But I try not to let that get to me. Done it a million times. There’s no reason to mess something up now.”

Meeder, after finishing the kick, was afraid to celebrate prematurely.

“I always like to wait and see because there’s those kickers that celebrate before and then miss it,” Meeder said. “I just like to wait and make sure it’s in.”

Shortly after the kick went through the uprights, his teammates swarmed the field to celebrate with him.

“That’s every kicker’s dream,” Meeder said. “I’ve always dreamt of that moment since I started kicking as a freshman, and I’m just happy to be there for my team.”

Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill, a fellow newcomer to the 2023 Hawkeyes, was among the teammates to hug Meeder afterward.

“I was like, ‘You’re the man, you saved my butt,’” Hill said, referencing his interception earlier in the bizarre fourth quarter. “Gave him a kiss on the forehead in the locker room, too. I was extremely stoked for him.”

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz knows not to “take anything for granted,” but he was “not overly surprised” because Meeder has performed “really consistently” in practice.

“Since he has shown up, he’s a delightful young guy,” Ferentz said. “Felt like we had a pretty good backup plan there.”

Meeder’s opportunity to even be on the roster at Iowa was a last-second situation.

Iowa needed a backup kicker after Aaron Blom, who backed up Stevens in 2022, was cited in August as part of the state’s sports wagering investigation amid allegations of betting on his own team.

Meeder’s kicking numbers were not phenomenal at Central Michigan. In his last year with the Chippewas, he completed only 5-of-11 field goal attempts.

The Eaton Rapids, Mich., native “really didn’t know a whole lot” about the Hawkeyes either.

But he had a connection with the Iowa staff. Adam Cox, now a graduate assistant at Iowa, worked with Meeder during his time on Central Michigan’s staff.

“He recruited me to Central Michigan,” Meeder said. “So when they needed a kicker, he kind of put in a word for me to Coach Woods.”

Then came the text from Woods two weeks ahead of the fall semester asking, “Do you want to be a Hawkeye?”

After that text from Woods, his kicking habits dramatically changed.

“I started going three or four times a week right after that,” Meeder said.

Now, he has a memorable moment — a moment that ranks “definitely No. 1” in his football career — to boot.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com