Erik Folk (born January 26, 1989) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

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 ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

who played for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. He is most remembered for kicking game-winning

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

s to beat

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

in 2009 and 2010. He went undrafted in the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

, and was signed as a free agent by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

before being released during the preseason.

Early life

Folk helped Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High School to an 11-1 record and a Serra League championship as a senior in 2006. The team finished the regular season 10-0 before beating Dana Hills, 45-10, in the first round of the playoffs, subsequently lost to

Long Beach Poly Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

, 31-21, the following week. Folk's team finished as the No. 6 team in the state, according to MaxPreps. ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

'' second-team all-area kicker and other awards and accomplishments including, CalHiSports all-state third-team, PrepStar all-region selection, booted 53-of-53 PATs and seven field goals as a senior, kicked a 56-yarder vs. Birmingham High in 2006. He also kicked a 50-yarder vs.

Canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

, the Knights spent part of 2005 season ranked No. 1 in the state before falling to Dominguez in the

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CI ...

Western Division final.

College career

During the 2009 season, it was Folk’s 22-yarder with three seconds to play that made the difference in a 16-13 upset win over No. 3 USC. Folk repeated his last-second heroics against No. 18 USC the following year, hitting a 32-yard game-winning field goal. He was named Pac-10 Special Teams player of the week on October 4, 2010.

Professional career

On June 18, 2012, Folk was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

. in 2012, but was released before the regular season.

Personal life

Folk was born to Anton and Kathryn Folk. He is the younger brother of New York Jets kicker

Nick Folk Nicholas Alexander Folk (born November 5, 1984) is an American professional American football, football placekicker. He played college football for the Arizona Wildcats football, Arizona Wildcats, where he received first-team 2006 All-Pacific-10 ...

, who was a first-team All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

punter in 2006. He also has another brother, Greg Folk, who played soccer at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

References

External links