Real Talk with QBV #8 with Former Boise State and XFL Kicker Tyler Rausa

On Thursday, August 6th, QBV was able to interview with former Boise State and DC Defenders kicker Tyler Rausa. Rausa holds numerous records for kicking at Boise State and has kicked professionally in Arena Football as a member of the Mass Pirates and in the XFL.

Tyler Rausa helped teach us more about special teams, which is often times overlooked in Football to the untrained eye. However, real Football minds know how vital it is in the game of Football. Kickers and special teams players are misunderstood players and Rausa told us all about the importance of long snappers, holders and the big men up front.

Tyler Rausa is looking for his shot to make the NFL. His tape and his stats prove that he truly does belong in the NFL and we are confident he will get his chance sooner rather than later, let's take a look at the interview!

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What are your thoughts on the XFL coming back?

“Honestly I feel like it’s the best-case scenario. It comes from a guy, The Rock, who has a reputation that everybody loves the guy. It’s kind of hard not to like the guy, you may not like his movies, but overall as a person, from where he comes from, what he is now, and he has a football background as well.

Obviously, he was in the NFL for a hot second, then he went to the CFL for a hot second and that was kind of his first dream, to be a Football guy. For him to take over the league and for that cheap as well, it’s a win-win scenario for everybody...”

What is your advice to athletes right now during the middle of COVID

“Find a way! The circumstances aren’t great right now, but you need to find a way to get 1% better every single day and it doesn’t matter how it looks, it doesn’t matter if it is something that looks dumb, or something that may look better than what you think, you got to find a way.

Whether your parents are helping you or your friends are helping you, right now you just need to find a way to get it done. For me there are some times in Boise that I can’t even get to a field, I have to go find some sort of park that has a pole that I can kick at, some days I don’t even have uprights.

When it comes to weights, if you don’t have weights, use bands, if you don’t have bands, lift your animal, if you don’t have an animal, lift your garage a different way, something, something to get better, something to continually work at your craft. Something that will overall take your mind off of this as well and bring a motivation that you will continue to have to be the best person and best athlete you can be.”

Talk about where you are at in your career right now

“Right now, it’s kind of like everybody else, we are trying to figure it out. Still chasing the dream, obviously with the XFL announcing they are coming back, hopefully that can be a fallback for me.

Right now, I'm in California right now to train, working with a former NFL Kicker who was in the league for what seemed like forever, John Carney, and we are going out there and just working and trying to be the best kicker I can be and put the best version of myself out on the field.

I’m looking for some sort of NFL team to give me a shot and if that doesn’t work we are going to go full blast with the XFL, right now we are just searching for a spot.

We have good film, I have good film with the XFL, I had a good experience and hopefully it continues on to the next level. With this Covid thing it is bringing another obstacle or a loop to it, but we’re fighting and we’re finding a way.”

How much do people undervalue special teams

“Oh, a ton, not just the specialist position with kickers, punters and snappers, but special teams in general. I think most people think that punt team, kickoff, kickoff return, punt return, field goal, field goal block, they think that’s kind of like a play player’s take off. They don’t know the numbers from it, with punt and punt return alone, there’s numbers with the field position battle. With kickoff, same thing with field position battle, whether you want to put a ball in a specific location or touchback to the twenty-five, or you’re looking at someone on their kickoff return team who is one of their starting receivers, you want to put a bigger hit on him to kind of get him rattled a little bit.

If you look at field goals, three points add up and they add up fast. Obviously, two field goals alone measure out to a touchdown, and a missed PAT away from being a regular touchdown, and three field goals away from a two possession game, that you didn’t know was going to happen because they scored a touchdown but you have three field goals scored.

All those things matter especially when you have a kicker who can hit from longer distances because sometimes when coaches get inside certain ranges, for most kickers you can get to about the fifty-five I would say with most and feel comfortable with them putting a ball in play for sure.

Coaches play call different, people don’t think they play call different because why would they settle for three? It’s not about that, you’re trying to score every single possession, no matter what the possession is and it’s one of those things that is overlooked by the untrained eye you can say...”