Cam Little, once a high school soccer player reluctant to play American football, becomes record-breaking Jaguars kicker, revealed his surprising journey from gridiron novice to NFL star.
To hear Cam Little tell it, he didn't get a kick out of American football when he first played in high school.
The Jacksonville Jaguars kicker tried to avoid the gridiron game twice before he really got started, he told the BBC ahead of the Jags' playoff opener against the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 11.
Little said he "was a soccer player through and through," but when a buddy invited him to football practice in high school, he decided to give it a go. "I didn't even know how to put pads on."
At first, he was a punter, but that didn't work out so well. In his first high school game in that position, the snap went over his head, "and I get smacked." After that, Little said he was done with football.
"I told my dad I wanted to quit, told my coach," Little said. "I was like, 'This isn't for me. I'm going to keep playing soccer. I don't really want to play football.'"
Little's dad convinced him to try again, and this time he committed. He spent his senior season at Southmoore High School, in Moore, Oklahoma, playing, and practicing, and studying tape on NFL kickers, especially the Baltimore Ravens' Justin Tucker, then the NFL's record holder for the longest field goal.
Little's efforts as a senior gained national attention as he was 247's No. 1 kicking prospect and a three-star recruit, and landed him at Arkansas.
"It all happened so fast," Little told the BBC. "Good opportunity after good opportunity started hitting me. I put myself in the right positions at the right time, took advantage of them when I needed to, and here we are today."
The 22-year-old made NFL and Jaguars history this season. In his second year in the NFL, Little kicked two of the league's all-time longest field goals -- a 68-yarder on Nov. 2 in the Jags' overtime win over the Las Vegas Raiders to surpass Tucker's previous record of 66 yards.
Little also booted the longest outdoor field goal in the history of professional football and the NFL's second-longest figgie in the Jaguars' season-finale victory over the Tennessee Titans -- a 67-yarder that broke the franchise record for most points in a season. Little now owns the Jags' points mark, having scored 140 total in the regular season, breaking the record set by kicker Mike Hollis in 1997, who had 134 points.
A sixth-round draft pick (212th overall) in 2024, the former Razorback was named to last year's PFWA All-Rookie Team. He earned the NFL's AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for December. (Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence was named the AFC POM on offense.)
On Friday, Little was named to the Pro Football Writers Association's 2025 On-Field Awards as the All-Special Teams place kicker. He was named to the PFWA's All-Rookie Team in 2024.
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