Cristian Zendejas (born 1999) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

who played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

Early years

Zendejas attended Perry High School, in

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Gilbert is home to 288,128 residents. It is the fifth-most populous municipality in Arizona and is considered a suburb of Phoenix. I ...

, a Phoenix suburb. As a senior, he made 10-of-11 field goals with a long of 47 yards and 67-of-70 extra points. He received 6A first-team All-Region and first-team All-Premier Region honors.

College career

Zendejas walked-on at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2017. As a freshman in 2018, he was one of the backups behind sophomore Brandon Ruiz. As a sophomore in 2019, he became the team's starter at

, after Ruiz suffered a groin injury and was lost for the year. He began the season by making 8-for-8 in field goal attempts and was rewarded with a football scholarship after the third game against

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. He finished seventh in the nation in field goals made (23) and twentieth in field goal percentage (85.2). He tied a

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

record with 4 field goals made in a single-game. He made 23 field goals on 27 attempts, ranking seventh in the nation and first in the Pac-12 Conference. His field-goal-percentage (85.2) ranked No. 20 in the nation and he became just the fifth player in school history to make 20 or more field goals in a single-season. As a junior in 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Arizona State only played 4 contests during the season. He was 2 out of 4 with kicks from 40-plus yards and began to be platooned in the second game with redshirt freshman Jack Luckhurst. He made 2 out of 4 field goals and 9 extra point attempts. On January 6, 2021, he entered his name into the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

transfer portal. On August 28, he announced on his

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account that he would be returning to the team. He appeared in 12 games, making 8 out of 11 field goals (72.7%) and 40 out of 41 extra points (97.6%). On January 24, 2022, he entered the

transfer portal for the second time in his college career.

Personal life

His father

Luis Zendejas Luis Fernando Zendejas (born October 22, 1961) is a Mexican former player of American football who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of ...

played

for ASU and, later, in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

. His uncles Joaquin,

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

, Tony, and Marty were also

kickers Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

in the

. His god father Gerald Walsh also kicked in college for Hampden Sydney. After his football career, he now owns a shoe store called Tempe Toes, in

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

as of 2023.

References

External links

*
Arizona State Sun Devils bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zendejas, Cristian 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Chandler, Arizona American football placekickers Arizona State Sun Devils football players