Making It: Specialist's Road to the NFL | Carney Training Facility

It’s no surprise that getting the chance to play a professional sport is described as a nearly impossible task to complete. 32 teams in the National Football League. That’s only 32 teams that any player is able to get on. Of course there is the Canadian Football League and Arena Leagues as well, but the opportunity to play for the NFL is an ultimate goal for those in the sport. This year there were 253 picks in the 2017 NFL Draft. 253 out of all the college players out there who are draft eligible. So what happens to players who don’t get drafted? They become free agents. John Carney, a former NFL kicker who played 23 seasons, is familiar with this experience. He was signed to the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 1987. Carney went on to play for various teams like the Buccaneers, Rams, Chargers, Saints, Jaguars, and Giants. In the following years after his retirement from professional football, Carney started the Carney Training Facility (CTF) in Carlsbad, CA. At CTF kickers, punters, and long snappers come to train in the gym and also do field work with Carney himself. Carney decided to open up the gym after his desire to coach and mentor other specialists on their journey with the sport and later decided he needed a facility as well so that they could train and watch film. "I was very blessed and fortunate to go through the experiences that I had during the course of my career" said Carney.

Six days a week Carney trains kickers, punters and long snappers of all ages and skill level to better their craft. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays he dedicates his entire day to train NFL and CFL free agents. They start their morning at 8am at the gym where they meet and go over everything each individual is focused on for that day to improve. Once done they roll out their legs as a group making sure all lactic acids are out of their muscles as well as some added light stretching. From there they all carpool 5 minutes to a nearby field where they begin their warm up. Warming up consists of a detailed stretch routine that Carney created and used throughout his entire career. After warming up, each player begins to kick and punt lightly to loosen their legs to the point where they can start focusing on the individuals task for the day. They can be seen snapping to each other, timing each other’s hang times and rounding up football for each other. After 2 hours of field work they all meet back at the gym where they go through a rigorous weight training program. Each day of the week is a different lift entirely. Throughout these days Carney is hands on every minute coaching, recording video and even kicking and training himself. The walls of the gym are covered in chalk writing of inspirational and motivational quotes and words to drive these guys to their goal. Kicker Donny Hageman says, "Training here with John Carney we focus on being better mentally and work on a lot of different things."

In order to get a better idea of what these free agent specialists go through and about their experiences I interviewed 3 current free agents. Derek Matthewson, a punter, Matt Mengel, a combo kicker, and Donny Hageman, a kicker. These guys give you an inside look on their journey in football and their road to the NFL.