Tennessee State Kicker Antonio Zita entered the transfer portal in May with the intent of playing football elsewhere.
Then on Sunday, he made the longest field goal in program history.
Zita was named the FCS national special teams player of the week on Monday after he nailed a 62-yard field goal against Eastern Illinois in a 21-20 win.
Zita ties the @OVCSports record for longest field goal with the 62-yarder to put TSU up one over Eastern Illinois!#BigBlueRising pic.twitter.com/L8krwO1GHC
— Tennessee State Football (@TennStateFB) March 14, 2021
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“Before every game we’ll do kicks into the wind and see how far we’ll go with,” Zita told the Tennesseean. “Usually it’s 51 to 53 yards. It was a tough wind Sunday so I was good from 53 in. Then in pre-game I hit a 60 with the wind and I told them 60 to 62 would be good to go with. So I felt really comfortable going in with that kick.”
The historic kick was later featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
Sunday’s moment nearly didn’t happen as Zita entered the transfer portal in May before having a change of heart, “saying the Lord is wanting me to come back home, back to TSU,” the newspaper reported.
