Belleville West star enjoys big first season in NFL. He’s ready for round two in ’20
Austin Seibert has been kicking a football for as long as he can remember. Blessed with a powerful right leg and an equally strong work ethic, the Belleville native has proven dreams really do come true.
Ranked as the No. 1 high school kicker in the nation by ESPN during his senior season at Belleville West in 2015, Seibert went on to become one of the top collegian kickers in NCAA Division I history during his four year career at University of Oklahoma.
Taken in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Daft by the Cleveland Browns, Seibert has quickly made a name for himself as one of the best young kickers in the league. While the Browns finished 6-10 a year ago, Seibert connected on 25-of-29 attempts in his rookie season.
“I’ve had the dream of playing in the NFL since I was 7 years old and so yes I’m living my dream,” Seibert said. “But it’s also a very stressful job and you have to try and make it as less stressful as possible. You can do that if you have the right mindset.
“All you can do is work hard and continue to prepare each week. If it’s not your week, then it’s not your week.”
But now as professional football as well as the rest of professional sports and the nation continues its battle in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, Seibert continues to prepare for the 2020 season, while also helping his younger brother, Logan, achieve his goals of being a kicker at the college level.
Logan Seibert will be a senior at Belleville West this season and recently picked up scholarship offers from Eastern Illinois University and South Dakota.
“Logan is doing well. I bought a house in Dallas and he came down and lived with me for a while so he could train,” Seibert said. “He’s working real hard and has a couple of more offers. It shows that he’s really put in the work and hopefully it pays off in the future.
“He’s trying to do what I do and hopefully that helps him out because I’ve been through the process.”
Following the path of his older brother would no doubt be a good thing for Logan Seibert. Following a record smashing career at Oklahoma, Austin Seibert could be well on his way to being one of the best in the NFL.
From Oklahoma to the NFL
Seibert, 23, ended his college career at Oklahoma as one of the top kickers in college football history. As a punter, he was a model of consistency, averaging over 40 yards per attempt each year and finishing his career with a 41.7 per punt mark.
But as a placekicker, Seibert was a record-smashing player. Voted as the Big 12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Year as a senior in 2018, Seibert ended his Sooners career as the leading scorer in school and Big 12 Conference history with 499 points. He also ranks first among FBS kickers with 499 points, first in extra points with 310 and first in extra point attempts with 315.
In his four year college career, spanning 54 games, Seibert made 63-of-79 field goal attempts.
As a professional, Seibert hasn’t slowed down a bit.
Taken in the fifth round as the 170th overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, Seibert signed a four year $2.78 million contract last May, then won the job as the Browns kicker during training camp in August.
Seibert’s debut got off to a shaky start as he missed his first NFL extra point attempt in a 43-13 loss to Tennessee. That miss would be his last for a while, as, with the aid of a 3-for-3 effort on field goal attempts in a week two win over the New York Jets, Seibert made his first 16 field goal attempts as a professional, a span covering the initial 10 weeks of the regular season.
“There really isn’t a big difference from kicking in college and kicking in the pros. The only really big difference is that now you’re getting paid to do it,” Seibert said.
“I had a good year. But I think I could have done better. My kickoffs were good, but I could have worked on the location more. I missed a couple of extra points. I need to do a better job on those and I could have made a couple of those field goals that I missed. I had a good season, but I always strive to do better.”
A new era in Browns football to begin
The Browns, who compete in the same AFC North Division as former Super Bowl champions Baltimore and Pittsburgh, will have a new head coach in 2020 as Kevin Stefanski takes over for Freddie Kitchens, who was dismissed after just one year.
Stefanski, who was the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator a year ago, has yet to meet with his team this spring because of the coronavirus pandemic and its limitations.
Seibert said the Browns OTA (organized team activities) scheduled for April were canceled and that he hasn’t heard much about the start of training camp in July.
“The coaches were allowed back into the building this week. But we’ve been doing everything online as a team. We’ve been doing news interviews, talking with coaches, teammates. Everything has been over Zoom, Spike, and things like that,” Seibert said.
“Coach (Stefanski) is just a really good guy, a good leader. Everything we’ve been doing, he’s been a really good role model and setting high standards with this football organization. Everybody is really getting behind him.”
The Browns are scheduled to open their season Sept. 13 at Baltimore. Seibert does not know if that will happen or not. Right now he’s trying to stay in shape for when he gets the call to report.
“I’m not hearing much right now about training camp. I’m just kind of playing it by ear,” Seibert said. “I have just been working out, kicking a lot and staying ready for when camp starts. They don’t have a set date, but we’ll be geared up and ready to roll as soon as they say we can.
“I certainly hope we’re a better football team in 2020. With that being said, we have to be a team, we have to play complementary football and we have to come together. I really think we have a bright future if we stay healthy and do what we can do.”
Back home in Belleville
Although Seibert lives and spends most of his time in Dallas, he returned to Belleville last week where he visited his family and spent time checking on Logan’s training.
Seibert said he knows being the younger brother of an NFL player adds pressure.
“I guess there is some pressure on him having an older brother who is a kicker in the NFL. But you can’t look at it that way,” Seibert said. “Logan’s goal is to get into college and have his college paid for. After that, and if he progresses in college to where he becomes a better kicker, then he will have a shot in the NFL as well.
“If not then he’s going to have that free education to help better himself in life. And, so sure, there is pressure but at the same time he should compete against himself instead of me. But he’s already broken some of my high school records so he’s on pace to do some good things.”
