Zoltán Meskó (; ; born 16 March 1986) is a Romanian former professional player of American football who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines. 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. As a redshirt junior in 2008, Meskó endured the dynamics of a coaching change, became Michigan's all-time leader in punts and punting yardage, and was named to 2008 All-Big Ten first-team. As a fifth-year senior in 2009, he made a number of preseason All-American teams and achieved the highest punting average of his college career at 44.5 yards per punt. Meskó concluded his season as a 2009 All-Big Ten first-team selection by both the coaches and the media. He was also selected as a first-team Academic All-American and as a second-team All-American by several publications. He holds the career and single-season records for punts and punting yards at Michigan.
In the NFL, Meskó set a rookie record for net punting yard average.
Early life Meskó, who comes from the Hungarian minority in Romania, was born in Timișoara, where he lived with his family in 1989 during the revolutions leading to the fall of communism in the former Eastern Bloc and the overthrow of dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania. The family was so immersed in the middle of the crossfire that they often dodged bullets by getting on the floor in their apartment. Zoltán was just passing through toddlerhood at the time of the revolution so he does not remember much of the details, but the family stuffed windows with pillows during the conflict. As a child, Meskó had a strong interest in soccer. His childhood heroes were Gheorghe Hagi and former NBA star Gheorghe Mureșan. At the age of twelve, he immigrated with his family to Ohio and Meskó was introduced to American football when he was spotted as a potential kicker in eighth grade gym class when he knocked out a light during a kickball game. Meskó is a left-footed kicker. Meskó, who could not distinguish a football from a rugby ball when he first arrived in the states, familiarized himself with the sport of American football via the television.
In 2003, Meskó earned Northeast Ohio Inland All-District Division II football team honorable mention recognition from the media while performing as a punter and placekicker for Twinsburg High School. He was also selected as Western Reserve North Division First-team by the coaches as well as the All-Summit County Team kicker. The Plain Dealer listed him as their first team kicker. During the year, he was 10 for 14 on field goals, while only missing one point after touchdown attempt and averaging 36 yards per punt. He placed 80% of his kickoffs in the end zone and maintained a 4.0 grade point average. During the season, he made a 41-yard field goal and a game-winning 31-yard field goal. By the end of the season, he had started 31 consecutive games. Twinsburg qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in ten years thanks in part to a solid kicking game. During his junior year, he got his first recruiting feeler from Division III Mount Union College.
After his junior season, he compiled tapes of his best punts, field goals, and kickoffs and sent them to 86 schools, hoping for ten responses. As a result of his tapes, he received 14 invitations for campus visits. He attended 16 kicking camps during his junior/senior summer. On 6 June he attended an Indiana University camp and received a full scholarship offer from the Hoosiers. Subsequently, at the University of Michigan camp, he averaged 48.5 yards per punt and a 4.6 second average hang time and was offered a scholarship. During the visit he impressed coaches when he saw fifth-year punter Adam Finley kicking balls on the roof of the Michigan indoor practice facility and joined in by kicking four in a row over the building. He was also admitted to all of the Ivy League schools.
Meskó had a successful high school career and was ranked second among kickers in the 2005 recruiting class by Rivals.com and fourth among punters by Scout.com. He committed to Michigan on 28 June 2004, just before his senior year of high school. He committed to Michigan mainly as a punter. After committing to Michigan, he continued to be recruited by the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the USC Trojans. Over the course of his high school career, he evolved from a , freshman into a , senior.
As a senior, Meskó once punted a ball 70 yards in the air. As a senior punter and placekicker, Meskó was a part of the focus of opposition game plans. He averaged 44 yards per punt as a senior and dropped 16 inside the 10-yard line according to The Plain Dealer and 15 inside the 15-yard line according to the Ann Arbor News. He was selected to play on 15 January 2005 U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a punter. During the game, he drew a roughing the kicker penalty and posted seven punts including kicks of 56, 48 and 47 yards and a pooch punt that he placed inside the 15-yard line. He was named an Associated Press Division II All-Ohio first-team punter. He was also selected to numerous local area All-star teams as both a punter and a placekicker. He served as both punter and kicker for the Ohio team during the 2005 Big 33 Football Classic in which he was 4 for 5 on PATs. He was recognized as the 2004 Northeast Inland All-District Division II first team punter by the media. He was selected as the All-Akron Beacon Journal team placekicker and the all-Summit County punter. The Akron area coaches selected him as both the punter and kicker for the All-Western Reserve Conference, North Division first-team. He was selected to the combined Summit-Medina-Portage Counties All-Area team as the first team punter by The Plain Dealer. He was the first team punter for The Plain Dealer All-area team. Although Meskó's high school required 40 hours of community service, he performed over 300 hours.
College career
Lloyd Carr era
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.
Rich Rodriguez era
When Rich Rodriguez arrived to replace the retired Carr prior to the 2008 season, he announced the Wolverines would be using a new punting formation along with the spread offense. Instead of using two gunners, the team switched to using six, and Meskó switched to rolling out and using directional kicks. The plan called for a mixture of employing traditional pocket punts and roll out for rugby style ones. Meskó said the changes to the team were so drastic under Rodriguez that he felt like he had transferred. On all seven of his punts in the opening game against Utah, Meskó rolled out to his left before punting. The new punt scheme was part of the option offense and could have resulted in a fake punt. In Michigan's third game against Notre Dame on 13 September, Meskó executed an option run for 13 yards and a first down. Meskó also executed a seven-yard option run for a first down against Minnesota on 8 November in the Little Brown Jug game. Meskó had a couple of punts blocked during the season, and one was returned for a touchdown during the Michigan – Ohio State game. During the season, Meskó served as K.C. Lopata's holder on placekicks. Meskó repeated a Guy Award watchlist candidate in 2008. After the list was narrowed from fifty to ten, Meskó was a semifinalist for the award. Meskó led the Big Ten in punting average and finished twentieth in the nation. He was named to the Big Ten All Conference First-Team in 2008. He was recognized by Phil Steele as a fourth team All-American for 2008. Meskó was Academic All-Conference for a third time. At the conclusion of the 2008–09 academic year, the inaugural class of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars was recognized for having attained a 3.7 GPA for the academic year while earning varsity letters, and Meskó was among the honorees.