Joseph Zema (born August 10, 1994) is an Australian professional

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 ...

punter for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL).

College career

Zema 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

Incarnate Word Cardinals The Incarnate Word Cardinals, also known as UIW Cardinals, are composed of 25 teams representing the University of the Incarnate Word in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & div ...

in 2017 as a graduate transfer from

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation ...

Professional career

San Antonio Commanders

Following his college career, Zema had tryouts with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, 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 ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

, but was not signed. Instead, he signed with the

San Antonio Commanders The San Antonio Commanders were a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The league began play in February 2019. The team played their home games a ...

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...

in 2019 where he had 37 punts with a 45.8-yard average. His contract was terminated following the dissolution of the league on April 2, 2019.

Montreal Alouettes

Zema was declared eligible for the 2021 CFL Global Draft where he was drafted sixth overall by the

. He then signed with the team on June 8, 2021. He earned the job as the team's punter following training camp and played in all 14 regular season games where he punted 90 times with a 45.2-yard average. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Zema continued his strong play where he played in all 18 regular season games and had 85 punts with a 47.3-yard average.

Personal life

Murray was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, to parents Nick and Antonietta Zema. He has one brother, Matthew.

References

External links

Montreal Alouettes bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zema, Joseph 1994 births Living people American football punters Australian players of American football Australian players of Canadian football Canadian football punters Incarnate Word Cardinals football players Montreal Alouettes players San Antonio Commanders players Sportspeople from Melbourne People educated at Whitefriars College