Up until last week, only a few sports fans knew the name of Jamal Agnew.
\nAnd then Agnew, a fifth-round draft pick of the NFL’s Detroit Lions, returned a fourth-quarter punt 88 yards for a game-clinching touchdown in front of a “Monday Night Football” audience of millions.
\nThey know now.
\nFor his tackle-breaking return, the fifth-longest in Lions history, Agnew was named National Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 2 of the season.
\nSo far, Agnew is the only player so far in\u00a0the season to score a touchdown on a kickoff or punt return.
\nAgnew, who starred at Point Loma High School as a football player from 2009 to 2012, primarily as a defensive back, later went on to shine at University of San Diego, also as a defensive back. USD was one of only a few universities willing to take a chance on a player many considered too small to compete at that level.
\nBut while at USD, Agnew set a record for passed defended in a career with 48, which marked the number of quarterbacks foolish enough to attempt a completion on Agnew’s side of the field.
\nThere was talk of a pro career, but many again considered Agnew too small. He had grown by last year to just over 5-foot 9-inches tall, 186 pounds and would be expected to defend against receivers who often stood eight inches taller and possessed super-human leaping skills.
\nBut Agnew can\u00a0jump a little too. His Pro Day result was 36 inches and he also turned in a lightning quick time of 4.34 seconds in the 40-yard dash, raising the eyebrows of pro scouts.
\nErik Shlitt of LionsWire says “Agnew is a rare player who possesses both quickness and speed. His balance is extraordinary, and his vision as a returner made him a day-one starter on special teams.”
\nMany have also remarked on Agnew’s humility and down-to-earth manner during the many interviews that followed his feat.
\nTo see a video of Agnew’s punt return and a phone conversation with his USD head coach Dale Lindsey, go to: \u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/USDathletics\/videos\/10156005297466535\/.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Up until last week, only a few sports fans knew the name of Jamal Agnew. And then Agnew, a fifth-round draft pick of the NFL’s Detroit Lions, returned a fourth-quarter punt 88 yards for a game-clinching touchdown in front of a “Monday Night Football” audience of millions. They know now. For his tackle-breaking return, the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":258388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Former Pointer Jamal Agnew makes impact in NFL","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}