Roslyn High School senior Jeremy Kaplan last Wednesday formally accepted a walk-on position as a kicker with the Tulane University football team.
During a brief ceremony at the school, Kaplan signed a national letter of intent to play for the Green Wave and donned a t-shirt and cap in a photo opportunity with Roslyn administrators, Roslyn varsity football coach Michael Cocoran and his parents.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Kaplan, of East Hills, in an interview with Blank Slate Media Friday. “I’ve pretty much been preparing for this since I was a freshman in high school.”
Kaplan joined the football program after being cut from the soccer team during his freshman year and practicing field goal kicking. He continued to play travel soccer for the Albertson Strikers club.
“It’s completely different [from kicking a soccer ball], such different mechanics,” he said. “With a football you want to hit the lower part of the ball and pop it up, but in soccer you want to keep it low so you want to kick more the middle part of the ball.”
Kaplan said he had also been considering the University of Maryland and Indiana University. He said he has not yet selected a major.
He was recruited to a preferred walk-on position, which guarantees him a roster spot with the potential to earn an athletic scholarship during his collegiate career.
Kaplan played for four years at Roslyn and went 20-for-20 on extra-point attempts during the Bulldogs’ 2013 conference championship run.
In 2014, his senior season, Kaplan kicked, punted and played wide receiver and safety. He was also a team captain and was named Roslyn’s most improved player.
“It’s almost like an individual sport in that it’s all on you. I’ve missed certain kicks and you’ve just got to be able to deal with that, and once you’re able to deal with that it becomes a lot easier,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan, who is slated to report to Tulane training camp on August 2, trains with Hammer Kicking Academy, One on One Kicking and Koepplin Kicking.
“It’s going to these camps and competing against these other kickers, that’s where Jeremy has gotten his experience and kicking education,” said David Kaplan, Jeremy’s father.
