Meet the 270-pound arena league kicker going viral during 86-point loss
When you picture a kicker in football, a 270-pound player likely doesn’t come to mind.
And when you picture a 270-pound football player, you’re probably not also envisioning him to stand at 5-foot-5.
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But those measurements precisely describe kicker Nestor “Manny” Higuera.
While he may not fit the typical prototype of a kicker, it hasn’t stopped Higuera from reaching the professional ranks at the position — playing for the Washington Wolfpack in the Arena Football One league.
In a video posted Monday on X, over 200,000 people were introduced, or perhaps reintroduced, to the 270-pound kicker.
Higuera was filmed performing a dropkick punt for the Wolfpack in their brutal 98-12 loss on Saturday, and it was actually his return to stardom, as he went viral in 2021 for nailing a game-winning 46-yard field goal to lift his NAIA college to its first conference championship.
Off the back of his first viral moment, he even made an appearance on Pat McAfee’s self-titled show.
Higuera grew up a soccer player and didn’t first kick a football until he was a junior at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where the school’s coach recruited Higuera to give the gridiron a shot.
“When I first started, the farthest kick I kicked was like 55 (yards),” Higuera said. “I knew I always had the leg strength from soccer. On goal kicks, I could hit it three-fourths of the field. If I made good contact, I would put the ball like 10 yards away from the 18-yard box on the other side. So I always knew I had the power and the leg strength for it. But switching to football was a little difficult. After I got the hang of it, I was just able to kick and put the ball far.”
Higuera picked up the skills fairly fast, and with the help of a kicking camp run by former kicker Luis Zendejas, he wound up at Arizona Christian University.
“Manny is short and stocky, but he’s got a lot of power. I’ve probably done maybe 50 camps, and he probably won about 45 of those 50 camps,” Zendejas said in 2021. “He’s a very consistent kicker. He has what it takes. Weight and all that stuff doesn’t really matter. Only people see it because it’s not the norm.”
Higuera made 20 of 24 field goal attempts in college with a long of 52 yards and went 67 for 72 on PATs.
Most recently, Higuera made Arena Football One history by converting the league’s first-ever dropkick field goal.
While many social media users make jokes of Higuera, he inspires similar kids who may not fit into the typical body standards of a sport, as he said in 2021 that “most of my messages on Instagram or [X], like my DMs, have all been inspirational stuff. Kids saying I’m an inspiration to them.”
Let’s be honest—no matter how stressful the day gets, a good viral video can instantly lift your mood. Whether it’s a funny pet doing something silly, a heartwarming moment between strangers, or a wild dance challenge, viral videos are what keep the internet fun and alive.