Everyone loves a good success story, and former Arkansas kicker Jake Bates has been on the forefront of social media recently for what he accomplished during the Michigan Panthers' season-opening win against the St. Louis Battlehawks to kick off the UFL season Saturday.
After not making a kick during his three seasons in the collegiate ranks — two years at Texas State and one at Arkansas in 2022 — Bates nailed a 64-yard game-winning field goal to hand the Panthers an 18-16 victory over the Battlehawks. The make is the second-longest across professional football, just behind Justin Tucker's 66-yarder against the Detroit Lions in 2021.
Bates' most impressive feat wasn't necessarily making the field goal, but making back-to-back after getting iced by the opposing team.
"Honestly at this moment I don't really remember what I was thinking about, I just remember that I heard the whistle and hit the ball and I kind of walked 10 or 15 yards by myself just resetting," Bates said Monday on the Pat McAfee Show. "The whole thing about being a kicker is being able to hit the same ball every time. That's what I tried to do on the second one and luckily was able to get it in."
A kickoff specialist during his one season in a Razorback uniform, Bates earned First-Team All-SEC honors for his efforts after finishing fourth nationally with an average of 64.47 yards per kickoff and an SEC-best 64 touchbacks. Bates touched on his college career during a segment of the Pat Mcafee show on Monday.
"Well at my two schools that I played football at, it was Texas State and then Arkansas, I think at both of those places I was ready to kick field goals, but I was behind two guys that were really, really good," Bates said. "At Texas State there was Seth Keller and he holds like every record there, and then at Arkansas I was behind Cam Little, who is probably going to be the first kicker off the board this draft.
According to a report from JPAFootball, multiple NFL teams have inquired about Bates following the awe-inspiring placekick. Bates signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then the Houston Texans out of college, but he never made an NFL roster.
"So, it was tough because I go to camps and kick with other guys, and I thought I deserved a chance, but it wasn't my moment," Bates said. "God had another plan for me, he was telling me to wait. I stayed patient, stayed true to myself and who I was and trusted the process, never gave up. It's hard to never give up when you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but luckily I didn't and now I'm here."
No one knows what the future holds for Bates, but he did earn the congratulations of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson after his kick — and that alone would push anyone forward.
"My brother sent that in our family group message and was just like, 'This is nuts, the Rock is tweeting at Jake!'
