Michigan football's Jake Moody would love to kick for Detroit Lions: 'That would be pretty cool'

INDIANAPOLIS — Jake Moody grabbed his coat and hopped in his car as soon as he got the text.

Calvin Johnson and Matt Prater were at a pizza place in Northville, and when Moody, a kicker at Northville High at the time, heard the news, he raced out the door hoping to meet one of his favorite Detroit Lions of all-time.

Johnson was one of the biggest stars in the NFL, set to go down as the greatest receiver in Lions history. But when Moody showed up at Mother's Pizza that day, he made a beeline for Prater, told him he was weighing a scholarship offer to Michigan and gushed that he was a huge fan.

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The kicker wanted hang time with another kicker, and ignored the future first-ballot Hall of Famer by his side.

"I went straight for Matt Prater and was only talking to him," Moody recalled Thursday at the NFL combine. "And it got to the point where Calvin Johnson had to like introduce himself to me because I just wasn’t as interested, I guess, in talking to him."

One of the top kickers in this year's NFL draft, Moody is the rare specialist who appears worthy of a draft pick.

He won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's best college kicker in 2021, was a finalist for the award last season and finished his Michigan career 69-for-84 (82.1%) on field goals and a perfect 148 of 148 on extra points.

Just 17 kickers have been taken in the past 10 NFL drafts, with all but two going in Round 5 or later.

"I know what I’m capable of, and I feel like I’m worth a draft pick," Moody said. "It’s hard to come by a kicker that is worth getting drafted, but I think that I possess all the tools needed for that. And if it were up to me, I would draft myself."

Along with the requisite leg strength and accuracy — Moody set Michigan career records for points (355), field goals (69) and field goals of at least 40 yards (17), and tied the mark for kicks of at least 50 yards (four) — Moody said he has the mental makeup to make it as an NFL kicker.

“I feel like some guys just kind of have that like ‘it’ factor when it comes to the mental game and some guys don’t, and I think that’s what makes a difference in the NFL,” Moody said. “Because at this point, there’s more than 32 guys in the world that can kick a ball as far as I can, make as many field goals as I can just out in practice kicking off sticks. But what really, I guess, makes the difference is who’s going to be able to perform on a Sunday in the Super Bowl or huge games when the game’s on the line? I think that that’s what kind of makes the difference, and I feel like I have that.”

Moody made his share of big kicks at Michigan, including a game-winner with 9 seconds left to beat Illinois and keep the Wolverines’ College Football Playoff hopes alive last season and a record 59-yarder against TCU in the CFP semi.

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He followed up his stellar season with a standout performance in the East-West Shrine Game, where he made four field goals including two 51-yarders, and said he’s looking forward to performing in front of scouts this week.

Already, Moody has spent time training with NFL kickers. He joined Prater, then-Lions long snapper Don Muhlbach and another of the draft’s top kickers, Maryland’s Chad Ryland (then of Eastern Michigan), for a few impromptu workouts during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said his goal, after making an NFL team this fall, is to play 20 years in the league. And if most or all of those seasons happen to be with the Lions, it would in some ways fulfill a boyhood dream.

“I’d love to play anywhere, but it’d be nice to stay home and play for my team that I grew up rooting for,” he said. “That would be pretty cool.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan K Jake Moody: 'I feel like I’m worth a draft pick'