Justin Yoon (born October 7, 1995) is an

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 is currently a free agent. He 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

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

High school

Born in Ohio, Yoon, who grew up playing

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

while living in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, played both ice hockey and football while attending

Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...

Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Milton is an immediate southern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Milton is located in the relatively hilly ...

. He attended Harding Academy and

Montgomery Bell Academy Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. The school is located in the Whitland Area Neighborhood. History MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American ...

while living in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Despite starting football in eighth grade while at Harding Academy, Yoon was 9–11 on field goals, 38–39 on point after attempts and had 37 touchbacks in 53 kickoff attempts during his junior season at Milton. As a result, he was named PrepStar All-East Region for Massachusetts. Yoon then missed much of his senior season due to injury, but was still invited to and played in the

Under Armour All-America Game The Under Armour High School All-America Game is a high school football all-star game typically held in early January in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Florida created to spotlight the nation’s top high school seniors. The game wa ...

where he kicked three field goals of 31, 32 and 47 yards, and hit all five PAT attempts. His 47-yard field goal was the longest in the Under Armour All-America Game's history. On February 4, 2015,

National Signing Day National Signing Day has traditionally been the first day that a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for a collegiate sport with a school that is a Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

, Yoon signed to play

at Notre Dame.

College career

As starting

Kyle Brindza Kyle Brindza (born January 13, 1993) is an American former professional football placekicker. He played college football at Notre Dame. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Lions in 2015 and was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccanee ...

had graduated and left for 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 ...

the previous spring, Yoon immediately became the starting kicker for the Fighting Irish. Sophomore Tyler Newsome handled the punting and kickoff duties while Yoon handled field goals and point after attempts. After beginning the season 3–5 on FG attempts, Yoon ended the season a perfect 12–12 on field goals. He quickly became affectionately known by the moniker “YOOOON” that Notre Dame fans cheered during his kicks. By the end of the regular season, Yoon was 46–48 on PATs and 15–17 on FGs, including a 52-yarder in a win over

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. Ranking as high as fourth in the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

rankings, the 10–2 Fighting Irish finished the season eighth in the CFP rankings and earned a spot in the New Year's Six

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area since 1971. From its beginning until 2006, the game was hosted at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has be ...

. For his efforts, Yoon was named an

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Freshman

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n at the end of the season. In 2018, during a 45–23 win over

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, Yoon became Notre Dame's all-time leading scorer with 367 career points.

Professional career

After being undrafted in the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

, Yoon tried out for 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 ...

at their rookie mini-camp in early May, but was not signed.

Personal

Yoon is of Korean descent. His father, Jiseop, was an Olympic figure skater. His mother, Mihwa, owns and manages a pharmacy.

References

External links

Notre Dame Fighting Irish bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoon, Justin 1995 births American people of South Korean descent American sportspeople of Korean descent American football placekickers Living people Players of American football from Ohio Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players South Korean players of American football Milton Academy alumni Asian American players of American football