Joel Stelly (born January 13, 1984) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He attended Cecilia High School and 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 the Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks as a place kicker and punter. Stelly is a

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

native, spending his youth in

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

Professional career

The

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

acquired Stelly around the 2006 season. He spent some time at the Bears' and was then relocated to

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally founded ...

for development under the Bears after the 2006 seasonbr>
He led the NFL with his 49.8 preseason average but that performance did not land him the starting position. He then returned to the Bears at the beginning of the 2006 Chicago Bears season, 2007 season shadowing veteran punter Brad Maynard. He was released before the start of the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

in favor of veteran punter Brad Maynard. Upon release Stelly had tryouts with at least 10 teams but could not land a starting spot on a 52-man roster. Stelly had a profound collegiate career that he still to date ranks in the top 10 of NCAA punters with a career average of 46.3.

External links

NFL.com Profile

1984 births Living people Players of American football from Lafayette, Louisiana American football punters Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football players Chicago Bears players Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) players {{amfoot-punter-stub