page_title: Zoltán Meskó (American football)
section_title: Lloyd Carr era
hierarchical_section_title: Zoltán Meskó (American football) / College career / Lloyd Carr era
caption_attribution_description: English: w:Zoltan Mesko (American football)
context_page_description: Zoltán Meskó is a former American football punter. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan. Born in Romania, Meskó emigrated with his family to the United States and eventually settled in Ohio. There he was discovered as a potential kicker for his school's football team, the Twinsburg Tigers, and became one of the best high school football kickers in the nation, excelling as both a punter and placekicker. After earning top honors in his state, Meskó was recruited by several college football teams. He selected Michigan over several schools including Indiana, Ohio State, and USC.
  At Michigan, Meskó did not win the starting job as a punter right away. He redshirted his freshman year and won a battle for the kicking duties on the field in 2006. Meskó then went on to excel on the field as a three-time Ray Guy Award watchlist candidate and off the field as a four-time Academic All-Conference selection. He was also recognized for his character and community service by numerous organizations.
context_section_description: Prior to the 2005 season, it appeared that the Michigan Wolverines would use three kickers: Garrett Rivas for field goals and extra points, Ross Ryan for kickoffs and Meskó for punting, but redshirt junior Ryan beat out Meskó and junior Mark Spencer for the punting duties.  Meskó redshirted as a freshman at Michigan in 2005, while Ryan ranked last in the Big Ten for the 2005 season with a 38.3 yard average.
  Entering the 2006 season for Michigan, head coach Lloyd Carr could not decide between Meskó and Ryan. In the team's opening game against Vanderbilt, Meskó punted three times and Ryan once.  The two shared the kicking duties for the first four games with Meskó recording 12 punts and Ryan recording 9. In the fifth game of the season, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the Little Brown Jug, Meskó handled all of the punting duties. Ryan punted only five more times the rest of the season.  Meskó finished the season fourth in the Big Ten and 38th in the nation in punting average. Meskó earned Academic All-Big Ten Conference recognition for earning a letter while maintaining a 3.0+ average during the fall.
  Prior to the 2007 season, Meskó adjusted his kicking technique to a straight motion instead of a cross-over like National Football League punters.  He was a preseason Ray Guy Award watchlist nominee.  After Rivas graduated,  the 2007 Michigan Wolverines football team had a battle for the placekicking duties for the 2007 season between redshirt freshman Bryan Wright and two walk-ons.  When the team had two fourth quarter field goal attempts blocked during their season-opening 34–32 loss to the two-time defending FCS champion Appalachian State Mountaineers, Meskó was an uninvolved third stringer but handled punting duties. Meskó finished the season fifth in the Big Ten in punting average, and was again Academic All-Conference.
caption: Meskó punts as a Michigan Wolverine.
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