The Indiana Hoosiers landed transfer Paddy McAteer, a kicker, from Troy on Tuesday night. McAteer is a former Gaelic football player and kicked at Troy for in 2025. In his two seasons with the Trojans he had a touchback rate of 57.7% on kickoffs. He did have six go out of bounds. He was also Troy’s long field goal kicker with a career-long of 53 yards.
The Hoosiers lose kickoff and long field goal specialist Brendan Franke to graduation after this season. Franke was nearly automatic on kickoffs with a touchback rate of 90.3% on 51 attempts this season. Franke also hit a 58-yard field goal at Oregon, but he has been out with an injury since late October. In his place Quinn Warren, who serves as the backup punter as well, has been kicking off. Warren is just a sophomore and has filled in nicely when needed. He has 53 kickoffs with 58% of them going for touchbacks.
According to his bio at Troy:
“McAteer First kicked an American football in April 2024 at the age of 20. He Played for Mullaghbawn (mul-uh-bawn) CLG (Gaelic Football Club). Gaelic Football is a cross between soccer and rugby, which is the national sport of Ireland.”