Who is Jude McAtamney? Former GAA underage star signs NFL contract with the New York Giants
Jude McAtamney helped Derry win an Ulster U20 title in 2018 and has now taken the step into professional sport after signing with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent
Former Derry Under-20 footballer Jude McAtamney has signed with the New York Giants, becoming the latest Irishman to sign with an NFL franchise.
McAtamney played two years of college football at Rutgers University in New Jersey having first moved to America in 2021 to chase his dream of making it in the NFL.
McAtamney is now the third-Irish born player signed to an NFL team, following in the footsteps of former Down goalkeeper Charlie Smyth, who secured a three-year deal with the New Orleans Saints after taking part in the recent NFL combine, and Green Bay Packers' Wicklow-born punter Dan Whelan.
READ MORE:Charlie Smyth on "surreal" journey from school teacher to the NFL
McAtamney's family is steeped in the GAA. One of his six elder brothers, Conor, played for the Derry senior side before retiring in 2021, while his grandfather Harry Cassidy is a former player and manager of both Derry and Bellaghy.
McAtamney was a promising GAA player in his youth who helped The Oak Leafers win an Ulster U20 title in 2018.
But in May 2020, the Swatragh-native chose to pursue a career in American football after reading a news article about Kerry native David Shanahan accepting an American Football scholarship at Georgia Tech as a kicker.
Shanahan became the first player born and raised in Ireland to take up a college football career, with McAtamney backing himself to follow the same path.
Shanahan connected McAtamney to ProKick Australia, the organisation that helped him and nearly 200 other players earn a full scholarship to play college football.
He was accepted to participate in ProKick Australia, but never got the chance to actually work in Australia because of the Covid pandemic.
Instead, McAtamney travelled to America and met up with Shanahan and former two-time winner of the Ray Guy Award for College Punter of the Year, Tom Hackett, who went on to play college football for Utah Utes.
The Derry native remained in the US for two months working on his kicking when North Carolina’s Chowan College, operating in Division Two of Conference Carolinas, offered him a full athletic scholarship.
McAtamney was not there long, playing in nine games during the 2021 season before electing to transfer.
During his time at Chowan, McAtamney was 6-of-10 on-field goal attempts with a long of 47 yards and three tries of at least 40 yards. He also went 47-of-47 on extra-point attempts and hit 19 touchbacks on 60 kickoffs.
Mark Hall, McAtamney’s head coach at DII Chowan University, called the Derry native the "best kicker I’ve personally been around", and admitted that he knew the Irishman “was not going to be a long-term thing because of how good he was.”
“We were very disappointed that he decided to transfer," Hall told NJ.com. "No hard feelings or anything when he left. We obviously felt he was more talented than the Division II level.”
In the subsequent offseason, as he looked for a new home, McAtamney travelled to Melbourne and received in-person training from John Smith, ProKick Australia's longtime head kicking coach.
“When Jude came here, it was pretty obvious that he was absolutely elite in so many ways: physically, mentally, athletically, just everything,” Smith said of McAtamney. “He was exactly what I expected him to be.”
McAtamney soon caught the attention of Rutgers University, who signed the Derry native as a placekicker.
McAtamney proved himself throughout training camp and earned the starting job with about two weeks before Rutgers’ season-opener at Boston College.
In 2022, McAtamney played in all 12 games for the Scarlet Knights, going 12-for-18 on field goals, with five of his attempts coming at 40+ yards (including a long of 49 made twice), while he converted 23 of his 24 attempted extra points that year. He finished as the team's scoring leader with 59 points.
Last season, McAtamney played in 13 games and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. While he lost his job as starting kicker, McAtamney set a Rutgers school record with 40 touchbacks on 60 kickoffs, with zero going out of bounds after setting in as the team's kickoff specialist. He only had one field goal attempt, which he did not convert. In total he made 18 field goals at the collegiate level with a long of 49 yards.
Although he held a pre-draft visit with the New York Giants and the New York Jets, McAtamney did not declare for last weekend's NFL draft so could not be selected, which left him open to field offers from any team.
The Irishman has signed with the Giants as a free agent on Monday and will get a chance to compete for the team's kicking job held by veteran Graham Gano.
Gano endured a nightmare season in 2023, missing 35 percent of his field goals before a knee injury in early November ended his campaign early.
Gano was only 11 of 17 last season, missing two field goals in a 13-10 overtime loss to the Jets. In his absence the Giants signed Cade York and Randy Bullock to finish out the season.
Bullock is a now free agent while York now plays for the Cleveland Browns, and McAtamney is likely to be giving a chance in pre-season to see if he can make it in the NFL.
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