Kicker becomes irrelevant

Irrelevant Week, the weeklong party in its 34th year, celebrates the underdog, the last pick of the NFL Draft. Yet also much of the hoopla includes a great deal of playfully roasting Mr. Irrelevant.

The jokes will come easy this year and it’s not because the Kansas City Chiefs used their final pick, No. 256 of the draft, to take a kicker from the University of South Carolina, home of the Gamecocks.

The comedy is actually in the kicker’s name.

He’s Ryan Succop, pronounced, “Suck-up.”

“Believe me, I’ve heard them all,” he said of the jokes he’s gotten about his last name. “Some of them I can’t really repeat for this article. Let’s just say I heard some interesting ones.”

But get one thing straight, this Succop is no suck-up.

“I certainly respect my coaches, but not like that,” he said in a North Carolina twang.

Succop doesn’t plan to use flattery to try to become the coach’s favorite with the Chiefs. He’ll instead use his leg, as he battles for a roster spot against Connor Barth, who, like Succop, grew up in North Carolina.

Succop, the third kicker taken in the draft, went to Hickory High School, in Hickory. That’s where he found his niche. A soccer player, he was told by many that he should take his strong boot to the football team. From there, it all fell into place, eventually making his way to the Gamecocks. At South Carolina, he handled punting, kick-off and placekicking duties in his sophomore and junior years.

During his senior season, he was solely the kicker, as he dealt with an injury, a sports hernia. But the 6-foot-2, 218-pound Succop continued to kick. He connected on 20 of his 30 field goals, missing four from 50 yards or beyond, with his longest at 54 yards.

Of his 61 kick-offs, 25 were touchbacks.

“I think he’s a guy that’s not your typical kicker,” said Shane Beamer, the Gamecocks’ special teams coach and son of longtime Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer. “I’ve spent a lot of time with those guys, and they’re stereotyped a certain way. He’s a lot different. He’s a strong guy. He loves to lift weights and loves to be in the weight room, which is rare for kickers. He has a lot to offer because he can do all three, punt, kick and kick off. He’ll be successful I think.”