Meet Manny Higuera, the 270-pound arena league kicker going viral during 86-point loss
When you picture a kicker in football, a 270-pound player likely doesn’t come to mind.And when you picture a 270-pound football player, you’re probably not also envisioning him to stand at 5-foot-5.But those measurements precisely describe kicker Nestor “Manny” Higuera.While he may not fit the typical prototype of a kicker, it hasn’t stopped Higuera from reaching the professional ranks at the position — playing for the Washington Wolfpack in the Arena Football One league.In a video posted Monday on X, over 200,000 people were introduced, or perhaps reintroduced, to the 270-pound kicker.Higuera was filmed performing a dropkick punt for the Wolfpack in their brutal 98-12 loss on Saturday, and it was actually his return to stardom, as he went viral in 2021 for nailing a game-winning 46-yard field goal to lift his NAIA college to its first conference championship.Off the back of his first viral moment, he even made an appearance on Pat McAfee’s self-titled show.Higuera grew up a soccer player and didn’t first kick a football until he was a junior at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where the school’s coach recruited Higuera to give the gridiron a shot.“When I first started, the farthest kick I kicked was like 55 (yards),” Higuera said.“I knew I always had the leg strength from soccer.
On goal kicks, I could hit it three-fourths of the field.If I made good contact, I would put the ball like 10 yards away from the 18-yard box on the other side.
So I always knew I had the power and the leg strength for it.But switching to football was a little difficult.
After I got the hang of it, I was just able to kick and put the ball far.”Higuera picked up the skills fairly fast, and with the help of a kicking camp run by former kicker Luis Zendejas, he wound up at Arizona Christian University.“Manny is short and stocky, but he’s got a lot of power.I’ve probably done maybe 50 camps, and he probably won about 45 of those 50 camps,” ...