COLUMBIA – It was the same routine.
Elliott Fry has been doing this for a while, so he hasn’t changed for anything special or demonstrative. He took his usual steps, lined up the kick in the usual way and, as always, converted.
So what if he was making his NFL debut, launching a 23-yard field goal on a cold, windy night at Green Bay’s sacred Lambeau Field, his new Atlanta Falcons helmet nestled on his head? And the game was broadcast live across the country through “Monday Night Football?”
“It was one of the times when I was calmer to get into the game. Just one of those things that you waited for so long and was finally here, ”said Fry. “I didn’t think of it as nervousness, I thought like, ‘I can be here, I can do this. I can play. ‘”
South Carolina’s career leader in points scored was relaxing as hard as he could last week after the end of the regular NFL season. Like his football journey since he left USC after the 2016 season, it has been hectic.
Fry was hired by the Falcons on October 1 as an alternative option, as titleholder Younghoe Koo was dealing with a groin injury. When it became clear that Koo would not be healthy for the Packers game on October 5, Fry was sent off to the active squad and said he would play.
“We had to go in and basically sit there for two or three days of COVID tests. I did it, stayed in a hotel, woke up and did a workout with another kicker there, ”said Fry. “I defeated him, and as soon as I did that, they said, ‘Hey, you’re playing’ Monday Night Football ‘. “
Fry made his only attempted goal and one of two PATs, but Koo was healthy for the next game. Still, Fry was kept on the Falcons training team for the rest of the season and signed a future contract, meaning he will be on the team as soon as off-season training starts in the spring.
“With Elliott here, he’s a guy we’ve known for a long time,” said Falcons coach Dan Quinn last year. “We have solved it several times already. We certainly had great connections during his time in South Carolina. So when we brought him here, we had expectations that if he were called, we would know he was someone who could deliver.”
With the end of the season, Fry went to Texas to visit his family and will soon be returning to Mount Pleasant, where he recently bought a home. There he will have the chance to relax (no pun intended), continue training and realize what has gone on to get here.
In addition to the record holder, Fry played his career at USC on one of the best teams in USC history and one of the worst. Famous before playing freshman because of his history – Fry is a Type 1 diabetic who has managed disease and football since he was 7 years old – he became the Gamecocks’ initial kicker as a walk-on and promptly scored 99 season. points, the fourth best in the school’s history, as the USC ended the last of three consecutive seasons of 11 wins in 2013.
He received a scholarship in January 2014 and started during an OK 2014 and a terrible period from 3 to 9 2015 when coach Steve Spurrier left in the middle of the season. But Fry’s final year in 2016 was the first season under coach Will Muschamp, and Fry had a memorable time hitting a 55-yard field goal the best of his career to defeat Vanderbilt at the opening of the season. He passed Collin Mackie’s school record by points later that year.
From then on, he wanted to try professional football, but he knew the odds were against him. Teams generally maintain the same kicker for years, and most teams are not clamoring for them, even in a reserve role.
But he did a test with Tampa Bay, and that started the bidding. Fry would have signed to play anywhere, but the teams that chose him solved it and then eliminated it.
It looked like his first “real job,” financial advisory in Atlanta, would be his call until the phone rang. It was Spurrier, asking if he would like to come kick for his new football team, Orlando Apollos of the Alliance of American Football.
He wasn’t sure at first, but his interest was piqued and, in February 2019, Fry was getting his blue and orange Apollos uniform. He made all 14 of his field goal attempts, and the Apollos were in first place when the league went bankrupt (Spurrier claims a championship in the aborted season), but his professional career was not nearly over.
AAF’s permanence caught the attention of the Chicago Bears, which signed a three-year contract with Fry. It was cut in August 2019, signed by Baltimore, cut by Baltimore, then signed by Carolina.
He participated in off-season training with the Panthers, but was released in May, where the Buccaneers were waiting again. He went all over the training ground thinking he was the guy, so he was released two weeks before the first game (ironically, the Bucs cut him off to make room for Ryan Succop, another ex-Gamecock).
“I was expecting a call and I hate to say it, but you’re kind of expecting someone to get hurt,” said Fry. “So when Younghoo fell, the Falcons called.”
He is up to date on his correspondence while maintaining his daily work as a training team player, maintaining a playful rivalry with current USC kicker Parker White. White announced that he is returning to the USC next season, which puts him on the line to break Fry’s scoring record and thus put his name on Fry on a stadium ramp.
“We have been exchanging criticism for this for some time,” said Fry. “I told him that he would have to put an asterisk, since he had an extra year, but no, it’s cool whenever someone is ready to break a record like that.”
Fry is due to perform in Atlanta in April and is wary of what might happen. Falcons will have a new head coach, so it could be a situation where they have to exercise and then wait and see.
Nothing he’s not used to. It’s all routine.