Maddux Trujillo hopes to make a living with his right leg and a football, but a golf club and a practice net were his best friend over the weekend.
Trujillo, Temple’s record-setting placekicker, said he had a small gathering at his family’s home just outside Atlanta during the third and final day of the NFL Draft. If one of the league’s teams tabbed him with a late-round selection, it would have made sense.
Trujillo went 5-for-8 on field goals of 50 or more yards this past season with the Owls, including a 64-yard kick that now stands as the longest field goal in Lincoln Financial Field history. He kicked well at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last month and stayed ready Sunday with updates through his agent, Jared Fox.
“I didn't pay attention to the fourth or fifth round as much, but I started keeping my head on a swivel a little bit more towards the end of it,” Trujillo told OwlScoop. “But I was out there swinging golf balls to the net, trying to not be super locked in on it. Because at the end of the day, it's going to work out the way it's supposed to.”
The draft came and went, and Trujillo’s good friend, Miami’s Andres Borregales, was one of just two kickers selected. But when Fox called soon after, it was with good news.
The Indianapolis Colts wanted to sign Trujillo as a rookie free agent, and Trujillo gladly accepted, knowing he’ll have a good chance to compete for the job there.
A little more than two weeks ago, Indianapolis cut Matt Gay two years into a four-year contract that at the time was the largest signed by an NFL placekicker. The team last month added Spencer Shrader, who spent time with the Chiefs, Jets and Colts in spot duty this past season, and Trujillo will now have the chance to compete with him for the Colts’ starting placekicker job.
Driving around Monday afternoon in Flowery Branch, Georgia with his girlfriend, Savannah Keifer, Trujullo set aside a few minutes to reflect upon it all.
“It’s a pretty good opportunity,” Trujillo said. “I'm super blessed, and I'm super thankful for not only the opportunity (Colts special teams) Coach (Brian) Mason and the Colts are giving me, but the opportunity that God has placed in front of me. I'm really, really thankful for it.”
About 16 months ago, Trujillo decided to transfer to Temple after three FCS seasons at Austin Peay. He turned down an offer from Arkansas to sign instead with the Owls, and Trujillo quickly became one of the bright spots in the program’s 3-9 season. He converted a 49-yard field goal in the season opener at Oklahoma and made a 54-yard kick two weeks later against Coastal Carolina. The 64-yarder came a week later just before halftime against Utah State. It was the longest kick in all of college football since 2008.
A week later, Trujillo hit from 60 yards in the next game at UConn for an encore.
Now Trujillo’s strong leg has put him one step closer to making a 53-man NFL opening-day roster. If he does, he’ll become the second Temple kicker in the league, joining former Owl Brandon McManus, who landed with the Green Bay Packers back in October and finished out the season there before signing a three-year, $15.3 million deal with the team last month.
Twelve years ago, McManus also went undrafted out of Temple. Like Trujillo, he also signed as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Colts.
“I'm excited to get up there,” said Trujillo, who will leave May 8 in time for the Colts’ rookie minicamp on May 10 and 11. “It doesn't really feel real, to be honest with you, yet. I feel like it'll all kind of kick in whenever I get there.
“But at this point, I’m still back home, still preparing to go up there. But I was telling Savannah earlier today that it's cool that I can consider myself an NFL kicker right now.”
Stay tuned for more from Trujillo on this week's OwlScoop podcast, The Scoop. He shared more about signing with the Colts and why he feels the Owls are in good hands at the placekicker position heading into the 2025 season.
