DeBauche Trying to Beat the Odds Again

Seems like only yesterday I was at this guy's childhood home with my mom, picking up my (little - at the time!) brother after I was done with school each day...the DeBauches were our family babysitter for a few years. What a great family! I found this online today and found it very interesting.

Courtesy of the Green Bay Press Gazette's Mike Vandermause column, May 7, 2008.


Every sports-minded boy growing up in the Green Bay area has visions of playing for the Packers. Very few get a realistic chance to live out that dream.

Suamico native and 2003 Bay Port graduate Kenny DeBauche considers himself one of the lucky ones.

If he beats out incumbent Jon Ryan for the punting job, DeBauche would become the first native son to play in a regular-season game for the Packers since guard Jim Hobbins, a Preble graduate, was part of the 1987 strike team.

The last area products to earn non-strike regular-season roster spots were former Green Bay West teammates Jerry Tagge, who played quarterback for the Packers from 1972 to 1974, and Dave Mason, a backup defensive back for the Packers in 1974.

DeBauche, who was signed as a free agent April 27, isn't getting caught up in the historical aspect of his quest. While excited about this opportunity, the 23-year-old is keeping a level head. DeBauche has what can be described as the perfect temperament. He possesses confidence and humility and seems oblivious to pressure.

The Packers invited DeBauche to a tryout in early April, and his audition consisted of 15 punts.

Pressure? What pressure?

"At that point, I felt like I really had nothing to lose," said DeBauche, who proceeded to wow the Packers' brass.

Coach Mike McCarthy said: "It was clearly one of the better workouts I'm told that our staff has seen."

The Packers wasted no time signing DeBauche after he went undrafted. He participated in the rookie orientation camp last weekend.

"I feel like I'm hitting the ball as well as I ever have right now, which is a good time to be doing it," said the 6-foot-1, 213-pound DeBauche, who will graduate from the University of Wisconsin later this month.

It won't be easy to beat out Ryan, who posted the fourth-best gross average (44.4) in team history last season. Yet DeBauche is viewed by the Packers as more than a training camp leg.

"I think he's competing for a job, no doubt about it," McCarthy said.

DeBauche, who has displayed excellent directional punting skills, knows he will have to clearly outperform Ryan to make the team.

"If we're at the same level, he's going to get the job," DeBauche said. "I think the only way I would win the job is to show outright that I'm the better punter."

DeBauche has beaten the odds in the past.

He exceeded the middle school football weight limit in eighth grade and wasn't allowed to kick or carry the football, and instead had to play center.

He became Bay Port's regular punter as a sophomore but received no scholarship offers out of high school. That didn't stop him from walking on at Wisconsin and becoming a four-year starter.

DeBauche has come a long way from the days when he would punt the football over the power lines in his neighborhood. Even now, facing the biggest challenge of his football career, he's enjoying the ride and not sweating things he can't control.

"All I can do is punt as well as I can," DeBauche said. "If (Ryan's) the better punter, then so be it. I can't do anything about it. I just have to make sure I'm focused on what I'm doing."

Between graduation and the start of training camp, DeBauche likely will live with his parents in the house where he grew up.

"Free rent and free food, so I'll be saving some money," DeBauche said with a smile.

It would be an unlikely living arrangement for most Packers hopefuls. But then, DeBauche isn't just another name on the roster.

Mike Vandermause is sports editor of the Press-Gazette.