Meet the Colquitts, family of NFL punters
MIAMI – Dustin Colquitt has been the Chiefs’ punter since 2005, the year Kansas City took him in the third round out of Tennessee. He is one of 25 punters in NFL history to be selected in the first 100 picks of any draft, and he just made that cut with the 99th overall pick.
But that’s not the most remarkable part of Colquitt’s Super Bowl journey – his first opportunity to play in the biggest game of his life. Now, Colquitt is trying to measure up to some high family standards at the punting position.
Craig Colquitt, Dustin’s father, was also taken in the third round of his draft – 1978, when the Steelers selected him with the 76th overall pick, also out of Tennessee. Craig Colquitt punted for two Super Bowl-winning Steelers teams in 1978 and 1979.
Britton Colquitt, Dustin’s younger brother, was undrafted out of Tennessee in his rookie season of 2010, but he made up for it with his own Super Bowl ring as a member of the 2015 Broncos. Britton also played for the Broncos when they were blasted 43-8 by the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIII, so there’s both sides of the equation.
With all of that, the pressure’s on, as Dustin said Monday during the media scrum at Super Bowl LIV’s Opening Night, “the only male Colquitt in my family who doesn’t have a Super Bowl ring.”
But as he said on Opening Night on
Monday night, he’s been picking the brains of both his father and his brother as the Chiefs prepare to take on the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
“That’s one thing I’m definitely doing this week. My dad has vast knowledge of what to do and what’s going on. Obviously, Britton played in two, won one of them, so it’s an exciting time for our family.
“To get another ring for the family, and of course just to pick their brains on what they were feeling like that week – during practice, during pregame, what to expect. It’s been great to lean on them this week.”
It’s not just the Super Bowl Colquitts who factor into this story – there’s Craig’s cousin Jimmy, who punted 12 times for the 1985 Seahawks; Dustin’s and Britton’s cousins Travis and Greg, who each punted at the NCAA level; and Craig’s father, Lester – who turned out to be the great lost punting Colquitt.
Lester was a star high school punter in Tennessee, but World War II interrupted his plans to take a scholarship at the University of Alabama.
“He was in Okinawa,” Dustin recalled. “In the last couple of years, my dad received a letter from a gentleman in an assisted living center from up in the Northeast. He said that he was in my grandfather’s barracks, and my grandfather took a football over there, and would punt the ball over the barracks. This gentleman sent my dad a picture of the barracks, which was kind of cool. The guy was 97 years old when he sent the letter, and he said to my dad, ‘I’ve been watching your family, and all the punters, but your dad could punt the ball farther than anybody.’ ”
Sadly, the war took away Lester Colquitt’s punting potential at the collegiate and pro levels.
“When he came back, he had some disabilities with his hands. So he taught at the Tennessee School for the Deaf, and he was also a motorcycle police officer. So he served his community in that capacity. He could ski barefoot – he was just a great athlete and a great man.” The Mannings of punting? Perhaps. To be sure, no other family comes close.
Inspired by his family’s success, Dustin figures it’s time for him to bring home the ring. Perhaps the razzing would stop then. At this point, it’s quite familiar – and familial.
Said Dustin, “After Britton won the Super Bowl, it became, ‘Oh, you’re Britton’s brother.’ So we’ve got to switch that around again.”