2025 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Anthony Beitko, K, California University (PA)

• Name: Anthony Beitko
• Position: K
• College: California University of Pennsylvania
• Height: 6’0”
• Weight: 195 lbs
• X (Twitter): @abeitko
• Instagram: @antman41

What made you decide you wanted to be a football player?

Ever since I was a little kid, I have wanted to be a kicker on a football team. My dad and I would go out in the backyard and run routes and my favorite part of scoring a touchdown was making the extra point over the swing set. It was awesome then and it’s still awesome now.

What are your favorite moments from your football life?

In order from when I was in high school till now, there are a few. The first big moment I remember was when we were playing in the first round of playoffs my senior year of high school and we were not playing great. We went into halftime down 14-0. In the second half, we jumped offsides on their extra point. They decided to go for 2 and we stuffed them. It was 20-7 at that point. We ended up scoring 2 more times, once with a minute left, to tie the game. Making the extra point and winning the game was a great feeling. My freshman year of college, we played IUP and it was back and forth the entire game. With about 5 minutes left, we were down by 10. We ended up scoring with a minute 40 left. We kicked the onside kick with 2 timeouts remaining and IUP recovered it. We stopped them 3 straight times and ended up blocking the punt. We went down and scored a touchdown with 11 seconds left. Although I didn’t have any significant impact at the end, it was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium in my entire life and it was at their place. My senior year, we played IUP again, this time at home. It was a very defensive game and they scored with about 2 minutes left to go up by 3. We got the ball back, drive down the field, and had a situation where it was 4th down with about 20 seconds left. The entire operation was sloppy and the kick got blocked. Luckily, the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage and bounced into the hands of Qua, who was one of the guards. I immediately knew that we have a chance to extend the game and I was yelling, “go, go go” as I ran behind him and started pushing. We pushed the pile far enough to pick up the first down. We took a sack on the next play and called a timeout with about 9 seconds left. We kicked the 39 yarder and had a perfect operation which led to the ball going straight down the middle. Later that year, we finally made the playoffs after 3 years of coming just short. In the very first playoff game, it was back and forth the whole time. We got a stop when we needed to towards the end of the game and forced them into a missed field goal. This left the game tied with a few minutes left to go. We drove down the field, centered the ball, and called a timeout with 3 seconds left. I was set up for a 29 yard field goal and had more confidence than I’ve ever had for any kick in my entire life. The snap, hold, and protection was perfect and we sent it right down the middle to win the game. It was my first ever game winner.

What are you looking to achieve as a football player going forward?

I would love to be able to get a shot somewhere to prove myself. I’d love to be a part of a team and win games with them and help make the culture exactly what it should be.

If you could hang out with any football player past or present for a day, who and why?

I would probably want to hang out with Chris Boswell. He’s an absolute beast of a kicker and I’d love to go to the field and kick with him to see what he does in person.

Which one of your family members inspires you the most and why?

I would say my dad. He was always the one who would be with me no matter what sport I was playing. We were constantly in the backyard playing soccer, baseball, football, or in the front playing basketball. We would go to the field and he was always willing to go and loved helping me out and coaching me. He constantly reads up on kicking and lifting and it’s awesome to have somebody in my life who does that for me.

What is your typical training routine?

I will go to the field, do some dynamic stretching, do some static stretching, then do some no step kicks, one step kicks, then full step kicks. I recently found out that kickers are supposed to train like 100m sprinters, so I will definitely be incorporating some of that into my training at the field. After kicking field goals, I will go and do some 3 step kickoffs followed by full steps.

What should we know about Anthony Beitko the person?

I am a really hard worker. I love kicking more than possibly anyone in the entire world. I put absolutely everything into this and I have never stopped improving. Every year, I get better in some way. I am not obsessed with stats either, I am all about the process. This helps me a ton in the mental game. I am obsessed with focusing on exactly what I can do to give myself the best chance at everything in life and letting the results take care of themselves.

What stands out about your film the most?

I would say the consistency. I took advantage of just about every opportunity I got on the field. I was blessed to be paired up with incredible long snappers and holders during my time here, but we all did our job and did what we needed to do every time. Every kick was treated the same, and the results took care of themselves.

How do you handle challenges both in life and on the football field?

Everything goes back to the process. If I was struggling in a class, I would never worry about getting my grade up. I would worry about studying more efficiently or studying more. If I was struggling with kicking, I would focus on watching my foot hit the ball in the right spot. If I know for a fact that I saw the correct part of my foot hit the correct part of the ball and it didn’t go in, I would only be upset for a couple of seconds and then I am over it. I’ve done everything in my control to set myself up for success and sometimes things don’t go your way. You can’t control the wind. You can’t control the other team. You can’t control the snap, the hold, or the blocking. Do your job, control what you can control, and things will work out for you.

What would a team get in a player like you?

They would get a guy who is all about the team. I have told people every year that I would rather have a bad season for me specifically and win games as opposed to have good personal stats and lose. I am all about winning and I’m all for whatever is best for the team. I got injured this year and it took me out of the kickoff duties for a few weeks. I am an insane competitor and it killed me not being the guy out there on the field, but I was rooting and cheering for the next man up, Harry Radcliffe. He did an awesome job. Every day when we would kick field goals with the team, I wanted him to do well too. It’s everyone’s dream to be the starter to help their guys out, but I want everyone to succeed. I’ll never root against a teammate, even if we are going for the same position.

What do you love the most about the game of football?

I love winning. You put in all the work each week and throughout the entire year all for game days. You can’t ask for anything more than that feeling of winning. You also gain some awesome friends along the way as a bonus. This makes winning even better because you think back to all the times where you were working with all your guys, putting in the hours, and when you win, you finally get that reward for doing it.

Who is the most underrated player you’ve played with and why?

It would probably be Cam Tarrant. He was my holder for 2 years and a receiver here at Cal. He was a smaller guy and never seemed to get any respect but he was an absolute genius when it came to picking apart a defense. It was like having a second quarterback on the field. He always knew where to be and had really consistent hands.