Sean Whyte (born October 23, 1985) is a professional Canadian football

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Amateur career

Whyte played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the Santa Monica Corsairs and Canadian Junior College Football for the Big Kahuna Rams. He finished his junior eligibility with the Rams in 2007 where he was also named to the All-Canadian Offensive Team as a placekicker.

Professional career

BC Lions

Whyte was signed by the BC Lions as a territorial exemption on May 29, 2007, where he practiced regularly with the team throughout the season. Later that year, he signed a three-year contract to remain with the Lions. In 2008, he spent the year on the practice roster. In

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, following an injury to incumbent Lions kicker, Paul McCallum, Whyte played in his first professional game on July 16, 2009, against the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

, where he made his only field goal attempt of 23 yards and made all five of his extra point conversions. He played in 11 regular season games, making 21 of 29 field goal attempts and punting 70 times with a 41.7-yard average before the kicking duties were given back to McCallum in October that year. Whyte returned to the Lions in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

as the backup kicker and saw little game action due to McCallum's strong play. Whyte played in only two regular season games where he made all six of his field goal attempts and punted 15 times for a 40.1-yard average.

Montreal Alouettes

Whyte was traded to the Montreal Alouettes on the 2011 draft day on May 8, 2011, after the Lions drafted punter Hugh O'Neill. He won the kicking job following training camp and connected on 45 of 52 field goal attempts and punted 115 times for a 41.3-yard average throughout all 18 regular season games in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Following his strong season, he won the East Division's Most Outstanding Canadian Award. Whyte continued to play well for the Alouettes as he connected on 80.5% of his field goal attempts in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and 82.0% in

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, where he was named a Division All-Star for the first time in his career. He had his best season as an Alouette in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

when he made 41 of 47 field goal attempts for an 87.2% completion rate and had a career-high punting average of 44.9 yards. Despite his excellent season, Whyte fell out of favour with the Alouettes in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

as the team opted to dress rookie Boris Bede as the team's kicker due to his stronger leg. Whyte spent the first six games on the reserve roster behind Bede, who performed well enough for Whyte to be released on August 10, 2015.

Edmonton Eskimos / Elks

On September 4, 2015, it was announced that Whyte had signed with the

, after the team's incumbent kicker, Grant Shaw had been injured. He played in the team's final nine games of the regular season where he made 24 out of 26 field goal attempts. He also served as the team's punter for his first six games with the team until Shaw returned from injury. After the team finished first in the West and won the West Final, where Whyte made all three of his field goal attempts, he played in his first career

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

game in

. Despite making just one of his three field goal attempts, the Eskimos prevailed and defeated the Ottawa Redblacks by a score of 26–20 in the

103rd Grey Cup The 103rd Grey Cup was a Canadian football game that was played on November 29, 2015 between the East Division champion Ottawa Redblacks and the West Division champion Edmonton Eskimos to decide the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship f ...

game and Whyte won his first championship. In his second year with the Eskimos, Whyte had his best season as he made 45 of 48 field goal attempts for a 93.8% completion rate, which was the third-best completion percentage in CFL history, at the time. However, he was not awarded All-Star status due to Justin Medlock kicking a CFL-record 60 field goals that year. After suffering an injury in 2017 that caused him to miss 12 games, he returned in 2018 where he made 36 of 40 field goal attempts. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, he was the unanimous selection for the Eskimos' Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. He signed a contract extension through the 2021 season with the team on December 31, 2020. He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 8, 2022.

BC Lions (II)

On the first day of free agency, on February 8, 2022, Whyte signed with the BC Lions. After wearing number 6 with the Alouettes and Elks, he opted to return to wearing number 10, his old number with the Lions and the same number as one of his favourite hockey players, Pavel Bure.

Personal life

Whyte was born to parents Pat and Tom and has two siblings, Jeff and Jennifer.

References

External links

BC Lions bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whyte, Sean 1985 births Living people BC Lions players Canadian football placekickers Canadian Junior Football League players Edmonton Elks players Montreal Alouettes players People from White Rock, British Columbia Players of Canadian football from British Columbia Santa Monica Corsairs football players