Mike Scifres

Michael T. Scifres (born October 8, 1980) is an American football coach and former player who is the specialist coach at Arizona State. He played professionally as a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played the majority of his career with the San Diego Chargers and is included on the Chargers 50th Anniversary Team. He played college football for the Western Illinois Leathernecks.

Early life Scifres attended Destrehan High School in Destrehan, Louisiana and lettered in football, soccer, and baseball. In football, he was an All-District selection. He set a school and conference record with an 89-yard punt against Southwest Missouri State in 2000. Scifres also kicked a game-winning 56-yard field goal in his first career attempt in 1999. Two-time First-team All-American selection by Football Gazette, Three-time All-conference selection, Seven-time National player of the week, and Five-time Conference player of the week. His college nickname was Scabies. He graduated from Western Illinois University with a degree in Communications & Broadcasting.

Professional career

San Diego Chargers

Scifres was selected with the 149th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL draft out of Western Illinois University.

In the Chargers' 2009 Wild Card Playoff versus the Colts, Scifres kicked a 67-yard punt and averaged 51.7 yards with six punts. Also, all his punts during the game were inside the Colts' 20-yard line, with 4 inside their 10-yard line. Perhaps Scifres's best punt of the game was the last, a 52-yard kick launched from the San Diego 47 yard line that bounced out of bounds at the Colts' 1, pinning Indianapolis deep and allowing the Chargers' defense to force the Colts to punt the ball away from the back of their own end zone. Scifres said after the game, "I don't know if you can dream a game like this." Scifres also made some clutch punts near the end of the 2007 Chargers' AFC Divisional Playoff Game that pinned the Colts back deep in their own territory and ultimately helped thwart the Colts' QB Peyton Manning's come back attempts. In week 11 against the Denver Broncos Scifres completed his first NFL completion to Mike Tolbert for 28 yards.

In 2012, Scifres, already the team’s record-holder for career punting average (45.3), was voted the team’s Special Teams Player of the Year last season after setting a new team record with an average of 48.3 yards per punt, a mark that shattered the previous high of 46.7, which he set back in 2010. And thanks to the Chargers’ outstanding coverage units, Scifres posted a 40.6-yard net average in 2012, second in the franchise's 53-year history.

In 2014, U-T San Diego wrote that Scifres "arguably was the team MVP" in a Week 11 win over the Oakland Raiders after he landed punts on the Raiders' own 2-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-yard line. In a 23–14 loss in Week 14 to the New England Patriots, he suffered a clavicle fracture on a blocked punt, when his body was twisted mid-air and his shoulder landed hard on the ground. The Chargers placed him on injured reserve after he had season-ending surgery.

On April 30, 2016, Scifres was released by the Chargers, who informed him that they were going to select punter Drew Kaser in the 2016 NFL draft that day.

Carolina Panthers

Scifres signed a one-year contract with the Carolina Panthers on June 7, 2016. He was released via injury settlement on August 31, 2016.

NFL career statistics Legend Led the league Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team Punting Punts 2003 SDG 6 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 2004 SDG 16 69 2,974 2,650 60 43.1 38.4 0 29 8 2005 SDG 16 71 3,104 2,700 71 43.7 38.0 0 25 8 2006 SDG 16 69 2,893 2,637 71 41.9 38.2 0 35 2 2007 SDG 16 81 3,735 3,244 70 46.1 39.6 1 36 9 2008 SDG 16 51 2,332 2,086 67 45.7 40.9 0 19 5 2009 SDG 16 52 2,342 2,037 65 45.0 39.2 0 23 2 2010 SDG 16 52 2,430 1,722 67 46.7 30.8 4 13 9 2011 SDG 16 47 2,234 1,865 71 47.5 39.7 0 17 2 2012 SDG 16 81 3,914 3,412 66 48.3 40.6 3 30 7 2013 SDG 16 56 2,417 2,239 61 43.2 40.0 0 30 1 2014 SDG 13 55 2,516 2,180 72 45.7 38.9 1 21 6 2015 SDG 16 72 3,261 2,789 68 45.3 38.2 1 15 2 Career 195 756 34,152 29,561 72 45.2 38.6 10 293 61

Playoffs Year Team Punting Punts 2004 SDG 1 5 182 182 42 36.4 36.4 0 1 0 2006 SDG 1 7 256 256 51 36.6 36.6 0 5 0 2007 SDG 3 12 530 449 66 44.2 37.4 0 4 1 2008 SDG 2 12 599 520 67 49.9 43.3 0 7 0 2009 SDG 1 6 297 263 60 49.5 43.8 0 3 0 2013 SDG 2 10 466 374 62 46.6 37.4 0 3 1 Career 10 52 2,330 2,044 67 44.8 39.3 0 23 2