XFL St. Louis BattleHawks kicker Taylor Russolino boots a 58-yard field goal.
St. Louis BattleHawks kicker Taylor Russolino is one of the best candidates that made the most of their XFL tenure. He showed how much he valued his time in the XFL. It is shocking that he is not with an NFL football team for this season.
Kickers and punters have received the short end of the stick from the NFL due to their very strict COVID-related tryout rules this season. Russolino is one of the many victims that fell into that category.
He has a bigger leg than most NFL kickers, as he hit an in-game 58-yard field goal for the BattleHawks, as well as going nine for ten on field goals for the season. Both, Pat McAfee and Lawrence Tynes back Russolino up. When two very successful NFL special teamers back you up that says you are doing things right.
Back to that 58 – yard Bomb
Let’s talk about that 58-yard boot. Not even that many NFL kickers are trusted from beyond 55 yards out, even 50 yards can become a tad bit iffy. Russolino banged in a 58 yarder, that puts him up there with elite NFL kickers like Harrison Butker, and Justin Tucker.
It is a real shame that he was not given an NFL chance. To be honest, he blows quite a few NFL kickers out of the water. He has poise, accuracy, strength; everything you need in a great kicker.
Russolino trains like an absolute animal. Just about every day he uploads his film to Twitter and Instagram to show he is fresh and ready. The accuracy to hit a pole from that far out not just once but multiple times requires a lot, aiming at something that small when kicking is not easy.
He also shows himself booming five-second hangtime punts too. Suppose a team signs Russolino as a kicker, and the punter goes down, no worries just let him blast some punts. It looks like he has the knack down like a charm.
But, what about kickoffs you ask? Yeah, he boots those into space as well. It sounds like the football explodes into smithereens when his foot connects. That is an easy touchback.
What’s Gotta Give?
Either the NFL loosening up the reigns on their COVID restrictions to let him have a tryout, or coming back to the XFL next year to showcase his skill even more. No matter where he lands, XFL or NFL, he will be someone to watch. Russolino, with ease, has one of the biggest legs on the free-agent market, if not the biggest. Contesting with him is not easy. Pretty sure there is at bare minimum five NFL kickers he would blow out of the water in a kicking competition.
Also if you need validation whether Russolino has the goods, in college as a true freshman he held the kicker role for the entire four years of his college football career at Division III powerhouse, Millsaps College.
