How important the kickers can be as specialists in an American football team could be seen again in the past NFL season. Not only extra points can be game decisive, but especially field goals with the end of the season.
Luca Jeckstadt has been part of the New York Lions squad since 2021 and is the successor to the all-time scoring leader in Lions and GFL history, Tobias Goebel. The 24-year-old painter and varnisher came to Braunschweig from Hildesheim Invaders, where he started playing football in 2014 as a youth. After a year abroad (2015) in the USA at Tippecanoe Valley High School (Akron, Indiana), where he was honored as an All Conference Kicker, he returned to his old place of work with the Invaders, where he remained until shortly before the start of the 2021 season stayed.
Due to the family connection to the former Lions player Frank Söhlke, the dream of playing for the Lions existed early on, which the 1.90 m tall and 118 kg heavy kicker fulfilled in the last season. With a total of 53 points scored in 2021 and 69 points in 2022, he immediately took the lead in the New York Lions’ scorer list. In the entire GFL he finished fifth in 2021, but was able to significantly improve on this already excellent result in 2022 with second place.
In 2023, the #13 will again take on the task of being a specialist in the team for the lions on the field and will do his best to contribute to a successful season with his kicks.
