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Featherby Getting More Than Kicks With Hornets
Bluff Senior Contributes on Offense, Defense, Too
George Vondracek
November 19, 2020 2:56 am
CORPUS CHRISTI — There were times in the past when Aidan Featherby wanted – wished at times – to do more for Flour Bluff Football than just kick.
The senior has been pretty good at place-kicking and punting in his three years with the Hornets. He is 8-for-8 on field-goal tries, 64-of-68 on extra-point kicks and has averaged 36.4 yards per punt.
Touted by coach Chris Steinbruck as the “best athlete” on the team in the preseason, Featherby doesn’t want any longer. He has become a multi-purpose player for the undefeated Hornets.
“Our first game against King I was definitely really nervous because I’d never really been out on the field before,” Featherby said. “I’d just kicked the ball and walked off. So definitely getting out there and being physical was new to me. But I’m getting used to it.”
And doing it well. Featherby, a forward on the Bluff soccer team to no one’s surprise, is shining on defense and offense.
“He’s a tremendous athlete that does so many different things for us. He can kick, he can punt, plays corner and plays receiver,” Steinbruck said. “He does everything, doesn’t come off the field very much. He’s made so many big plays for us and obviously he’s extremely valuable to our football team.”
The contributions the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Featherby has made this season beg the question: Why didn’t Steinbruck utilize him more before his senior season?
The answer is three-fold – preventing injuries, 2020 need in the skill positions and the emergence of sophomore Kyler Meschi, who has made all 16 of his PAT attempts and lone field-goal try.
“The coaches have always known about my athleticism because I play soccer as well. But they’ve always just been worried about losing my kicking abilities if I got injured, so they let me focus on that,” Featherby said. “But just this year they decided to let me branch out and play all the positions I wanted to.”
“We felt like having two very good kickers that it was time for Aidan to help the team in other places,” Steinbruck said. “He’s so gifted an athlete that he’s able to do that, which is very special.
“Most of our kickers and our punters, that’s all they do and that’s all they’ve done. Our soccer coach is George Chapman, and I’ll put him up against the best as far as buying into and believing what I want to do here and that’s win the UIL Cup,” Steinbruck said. “He is always helping to encourage kids in our soccer program to come out and help our football team. There have been many times where that one young man is just a soccer player and by the time it’s all over with he loves football just as much as he loves soccer. In Aidan’s case, he’s always been a tremendous athlete who’s played multiple sports. But coach Chapman, having a soccer coach that encourages him and explains to him the opportunities that Aidan has, not just playing soccer in college but now he has opportunities to kick and punt. And now he’s done such a good job at the positions he’s playing, the opportunity may be there for him to play either receiver or DB.”
Featherby ranks second in team scoring with 51 points behind Rayden Campbell’s 66. Featherby has booted 18-of-19 PATs, made all three field-goal tries and has scored four receiving touchdowns.
Defensively, the outgoing Featherby has been credited with nine tackles. His bigger plays have come on offense.
“I take a whole bunch of pride in it because my coaches believe in me, that I have the ability,” Featherby said. “So with that, I just try and to do everything to my best so I don’t disappoint the coaches.”
Against King, he caught two passes from Nash Villegas for TDs covering 86 and 61 yards. He made a season-best six tackles against Victoria East, which has been the Bluff’s closest game to date at 27-23. He caught two passes for 118 yards against Gregory-Portland, one a 79-yard TD.
Steinbruck knows that a kicker-punter by trade who exhibits that kind of talent doesn’t come through the door very often.
“Oh, it’s extremely rare, especially at the 5A level. You see that some in the lower classifications. They’ve got a good athlete that can do everything,” Steinbruck said. “But I can’t remember us ever having somebody as athletically gifted and being able to do all those things for our football team as Aidan.”
Featherby’s first love is soccer, a sport he has played since he was 3. But now he is getting college feelers in both sports. Valparaiso, Whittier College, Mary Hardin-Baylor and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology are looking at him for football, MH-B and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for soccer.
Featherby splits time between football and his club soccer team, San Antonio City SC, so he hasn’t shaken the soccer bug. And he probably won’t. But for now he is making the most of his chances on the football field before hitting the soccer pitch.
“I love them both but I’ve been playing soccer since I was 3 years old,” Featherby said. “If I had the opportunity to play at a higher level I’d pick soccer.”
Either way, Featherby will get a kick out of it.