Airport punter receives Under Armour All-American jersey

Airport football coach Kirk Burnett knows the importance having a good kicker on his team.

For the past few years, he had the fortune of having Paxton Brooks handle kicking duties for the Eagles. Brooks has emerged as one of the top kickers in the state and is ranked No. 2 nationally in punting in Kohl’s Kicking rankings.

Brooks, a Tennessee commitment, was honored for those skills Thursday as he received his ceremonial jersey to play in the Under Armour All-American game Jan. 4 in Orlando, Fla.

“As a coach, you usually don’t want your best offensive weapon to be your kicker because you want your best weapon to be on field most of the time,” Burnett said. “But it is really a big thing to have and a punt isn’t that bad of a thing, especially with Paxton’s ability to flip the field.

“It is big honor to have him selected. He is going to be kicking Saturdays in the SEC and could be kicking on Sundays in the NFL someday.”

Brooks earned the selection by his performance at The Kohl’s Kicking Camp in Milwaukee, Wisc., in July. That camp determines the specialists for the game, which will be televised on ESPN.

“Getting an honor like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Brooks said. “With such a history of the Under Armour game, it is an honor to be a part of it. When I started out, I didn’t think I would play at this type of level. But as I started to progress through my high school career, I started going to some camps and realized I could. So, I started to devote my time to it and went from there.”

Brooks started getting serious about his kicking after his sophomore year and traveled to Charlotte almost every other weekend to work with kicking specialist Dan Oerner. He also attended many camps across the country over the past few years.

But Burnett says Brooks, who also is a standout in soccer, is more than just a kicker and one of the better athletes on the team. He thinks he could play receiver if he wasn’t depended so much for his kicking ability.

Brooks is averaging nearly 40 yards a punt this season, is 12-of-12 on extra points and 5-of-5 on field goals, including a 40-yarder last week against Richland Northeast. Last year, he hit a career-high 53-yard field goal.

“You are almost always in field goal range with Paxton when you cross the 50. He can flip the field with a punt or kick in the end zone almost every time,” Burnett said. “You take stuff like that for granted.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Airport punter receives Under Armour All-American jersey."