Blake Gillikin

Blake Thomas Gillikin (born January 21, 1998) is an American football punter for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Penn State.

Early life

A former resident of Smyrna, Georgia, Gillikin helped lead The Westminster Schools to its first GHSA Football Class AAA Georgia State Championship since 1978 in 2015, and was rated as a five-star punter and a five-star kicker by Kohl's Kicking Camp.

College career

A four-year starter at Penn State, Gillikin is ranked No. 2 on Penn State's career punting average charts (43.03 avg.) He landed 53 career punts downed inside the opponent's ten-yard line (seven in 2016, 18 in 2017, 12 in 2018, 15 in 2019) and is the only player in program history with seven punts of 65 or more yards. Gillikin is second all time in net punting yards in school history behind Jeremy Kapinos. In 2019, Gillikin averaged 42.2 yards per punt as was selected All-Big Ten Conference honorable mention by the conference coaches and media. Was also selected for the CoSIDA Academic All-American first-team.

Professional career

New Orleans Saints

Gillikin signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent on April 27, 2020. He was placed on injured reserve on September 9, 2020.

Gillikin was named the Saints starting punter for the 2021 season after the team released longtime starter Thomas Morstead in the offseason.

Gillikin did not receive a qualifying offer following the 2022 season and became a free agent on March 15, 2023. On March 16, Gillikin re-signed with the Saints. He was waived on August 29, 2023, after losing the punting battle to Lou Hedley.

Arizona Cardinals

On October 3, 2023, Gillikin was signed by the Arizona Cardinals.

References

External links

• Arizona Cardinals bio
• Penn State Nittany Lions bio