Marquette King

Marquette King Jr. (born October 26, 1988) is an American football punter for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Fort Valley State. King is the only current black American punter in the NFL and is the only the fifth African-american to exclusively play punter in NFL history.

King was born and raised in Macon, Georgia by his parents, Audrey and Marquette King Sr. He has a younger sister named Jasmine and began punting in high school. As a child, he started to love football and wanted to become a wide receiver. King would practice after his football practices at Ruthland high school and asked teammates to join. After having his teammates decline his invitation, he decided to try punting during his free time out of pure boredem and challenging himself to see how far he could kick. His high school coach soon learned of his ability and named him the punter for the team, while also playing wide receiver.

King attended Fort Valley State University where he was originally recruited as a wide receiver. However, he could not find playing time at the position. During his junior year, when his new head coach learned that King practiced punting in his spare time, he threatened to revoke King's scholarship unless he became a full-time punter. In his senior year, King 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.

After going undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders gave King a tryout. On April 29, 2012, the Oakland Raiders signed King to a three-year, $1.36 million contract. In training camp, King took most of the punting snaps due to an earlier injury to Shane 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. King won the punting job, and Kluwe was cut at the conclusion of the preseason.

On March 11, 2015, King signed a one-year, $1.54 million contract to remain with the Oakland Raiders.

On February 29, 2016, the Oakland Raiders signed King to a five-year, $16.50 million extension with $12.50 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $250,000. On September 23, 2016, King was fined $18,231 for a touchdown saving horse collar tackle on Eric Weems during a Week 2 game against the Atlanta Falcons. He is also well known for his dances after punts.

Career statistics