FHS grad Plackemeier is proud member of Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame

Last year, former Fallbrook High School (FHS) student-athlete Ryan Plackemeier was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame.

Plackemeier, who played both football and soccer for FHS before graduating in 2002, was a punter and placekicker on the Wake Forest football team from 2002 to 2005. He earned all-conference honors three times, All-American recognition once, and set three National Collegiate Athletic Association punting records.

Plackemeier was joined by baseball third baseman Jamie D'Antona and provost emeritus (and former NCAA faculty representative) Ed Wilson in being honored with induction into Wake Forest's Hall of Fame.

"It was a huge honor," said Plackemier. "Wake Forest is one of the only schools that offered me a scholarship out of Fallbrook High School. I just worked really hard at Wake Forest and was extremely grateful for the opportunity. I just really focused all four years on doing the best I could and it worked out really well."

Plackemeier noted that his accomplishments were aided by the proficiency of his long snapper and punt coverage team and by the instruction his coaches provided.

"You don't accomplish something like that without a lot of help," said Plackemeier. "I was able to thank everybody and it was just a neat and special night."

Steve Hale, who was Wake Forest's other punter during Plackemeier's years, attended the induction.

"The way he pushed me and supported me while wanting the job that I had spoke to his character," Plackemeier said. "I think he could have started at other ACC schools."

(Wake Forest is in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The school is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.)

Hale and Plackemeier remained friends, and Hale met his wife at Plackemeier's wedding. Ryan and Kristen Plackemeier were married on

May 19, 2007. The Plackemeiers have twin daughters who were born prematurely at 29 weeks on June 1, 2015.

Plackemeier's parents, Steven and Cindy, also attended the induction ceremony. They were Vista High School teachers when Plackemeier played for Wake Forest. After the completion of their Friday classes they would take an overnight flight to the site of the Wake Forest game, watch their son's game on Saturday, fly back on Sunday, and return to class Monday morning.

"That had to be a grueling schedule for them," Plackemeier said.

The induction ceremony would be the last time Plackemeier saw his father. "Pretty grateful and thankful to Wake Forest that I had a special night," he said.

Approximately two weeks after the ceremony, Plackemeier's father was practicing with the San Diego Swim Masters club when he died of a heart attack.

Plackemeier's three years on the Fallbrook High School football varsity included participating in the Warriors' 2000 CIF Division I championship. Plackemeier earned all-CIF honors as both a junior in 2000 and a senior in 2001.

Plackemeier was both a punter and a placekicker on Fallbrook's football team; as a sophomore in 1999 he made a 46-yard field goal attempt and, in the first game of his junior season, his 47-yard attempt was between the uprights but the field goal was nullified due to a holding penalty against the Warriors.

He was the goalkeeper on Fallbrook's soccer team and earned all-CIF honors as both a junior and a senior.

Plackemeier did some placekicking during his first three years at Wake Forest. He became the Demon Deacons' sole punter during the fifth game of the 2002 season. Wake Forest concluded the 2002 season by playing Oregon in the Seattle Bowl; Plackemeier's five punts averaged 48.4 yards and his longest kick went 57 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

His season average of 43.2 yards per kick on 32 punts led all NCAA freshman and would have led the ACC had he had enough punts per game to qualify.

In 2003, Plackemeier set a school record with an average of 45.6 yards per punt, which ranked sixth in the NCAA. He was named as a first-team sophomore All-American. Plackemeier's 64 punts in 2004 averaged 43.9 yards which ranked first among ACC punters and ninth in the NCAA.

During the 2005 spring practice season, Plackemeier's teammates voted him the Most Competitive honor. He would have honors from more national sources by the end of the NCAA season.

In 2005, his average of 47.2 yards per punt not only broke the school record but led the nation, as did his 41.4 net yards (after subtracting return yardage and 20 yards for each touchback) per punt.

In 2005 Plackemeier also set a school and ACC single-game record for average yards per punt when he averaged 56.4 yards on five punts against Georgia Tech; the previous record of 54.75 yards had been set by North Carolina's Dick Lackey in 1953.

Plackemeier had 13 punts of at least 60 yards during the 2005 season, including three which traveled at least 70 yards and one which set a school record of 82 yards. His 67 punts included 20 which gave the other team possession inside their own 20-yard-line. In the fourth quarter of a 2005 game against North Carolina State, the Demon Deacons led by eight points and Plackemeier had back-to-back punts of 71 and 82 yards. His 82-yard punt traveled 67 yards in the air.

"My whole senior year I really had a good year," Plackemeier said. "I hit the ball well almost every time I hit it."

In 2005 he was a unanimous first-team All-American and won the Ray Guy Award given to the player selected as the nation's best college punter. Plackemeier was named to the ACC all-conference first team each year between 2003 and 2005.

Sam Swank was Wake Forest's placekicker in 2005 and Plackemeier was Swank's holder. Swank was selected as a freshman All-American that year.

Plackemeier made all 27 of his collegiate extra point attempts (he last missed a conversion kick in 2000 against Temecula Valley as a high school junior) and also kicked nine college field goals.

Plackemeier averaged more than 40 yards per punt in 37 of his Wake Forest games.

"Getting to play as a freshman obviously was a big determining factor," Plackemeier said. "Still to be that consistent over four years was something I was proud of."

Plackemeier set the all-time NCAA career punting average record (for a minimum of 200 punts) by averaging 45.3 yards per kick during his college career. His 220 punts traveled a total of 9,957 yards and included 50 which gave the other team possession between the end zone and the 20-yard-line, 68 which traveled at least 50 yards, 21 of at least 60 yards, and three of 70 yards or more.

Quinn Sharp of Oklahoma State averaged 45.9 yards on his 204 career college punts between 2009 and 2012 to break Plackemeier's record for average yards per punt. Plackemeier still holds the NCAA career record of most games averaging at least 40 yards per punt and the NCAA single-season record of 13 punts of at least 60 yards.

Plackemeier's last four college punts were in the January 2006 East-West Shrine Classic in San Antonio and averaged 44.0 yards.

Plackemeier was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the seventh round of the 2006 National Football League draft, which made him the first Fallbrook High School graduate to be drafted by an NFL team since the Miami Dolphins selected quarterback John Dutton in the fourth round of the 1998 draft.

Plackemeier punted for the Seahawks in 2006 and 2007 and for the first game of 2008. He was released after one game in 2008 and joined the Washington Redskins later that season.

One of the North Carolina State players Plackemeier played against in 2002 and 2003, Philip Rivers, became the San Diego Chargers' starting quarterback in 2006. In December 2006, the Chargers traveled to Seattle, and Plackemeier's 72-yard punt at Qwest Field set a Seahawks record for the longest punt in a home game.

Wake Forest is one of four North Carolina schools in the ACC along with North Carolina State, North Carolina, and Duke. North Carolina State holds special status for Plackemeier: his wife attended North Carolina State and was a cheerleader for the Wolfpack.

Plackemeier was part of the Cincinnati Bengals' preseason camp in 2009 but did not make the final roster. He had several tryouts over the next two years before deciding to retire in 2011.

Plackemeier and his wife owned a house in the Seattle suburb of Kenmore from 2006 to 2011. In 2011, he obtained his first post-football job at a Winston-Salem law firm and has lived in North Carolina since 2011. Plackemeier produces trial graphics for the law firm.

Plackemeier was a communications and religion double-major at Wake Forest. He had plans to become a minister before the National Football League offered him an alternative Sunday opportunity.

"I guess you're always a minister," Plackemeier said.

Plackemeier still hasn't ruled out seminary studies.

"It's still something I'm considering," said Plackemeier. "Once everything settles down it's something I think I might do."