Garrett Rivas, one of the early protégés of Jay and Tom Feely, played for Jay and Tom when they coached together at Jesuit High School. (Tom is currently the Special Teams Coordinator for Jesuit High School).

Jay, who has recently signed with the Miami Dolphins for a 3 year contract, was Tom Feely's assistant coach when Garrett first came out for football at Jesuit as a freshman. Jay and Tom immediately spotted Garrett's potential as a future kicker and proceeded to teach Garrett how to kick and punt. By the time Garrett was a junior at Jesuit he had already been offered a full ride offer by the University of Michigan, the same college Jay played for a few years earlier. Garrett went on to be a four year starter for the Wolverines and broke many of the UM records, including some of Jay's records.

We are very proud of Garrett!!!

Feely family gets big play:  City to rededicate ball fields to prominent residents during ceremony today

BY FREDERICK MELO - Pioneer Press

It seems that even if the Feely name weren't stretched across the giant grain elevator visible from almost any vantage point in downtown Farmington , it would still weave its way through city lore.

In the National Football League, a strapping Jay Feely place-kicks for the New York Giants. At Farmington High School , an ambitious Megan Feely graduated valedictorian from her class of 317 students this year.

And 86-year-old Thomas Feely, who could tick off boyhood memories of the Great Depression as easily as he might name the stand-out players for the Minnesota Twins, spent decades coaching college football not far from where he makes his home in St. Paul.

Those three Feelys — and a sizable cast of others — will gather for a family reunion of sorts today when Farmington rededicates the ball fields at Rambling River Park.

What in 1894 had been Patrick Henry Feely's private pastureland has more recently been known as Farmington 's major public recreation area. Among its many amenities, the 78-acre park is home to Rambling River Fields, composed of a Little League diamond and two fast-pitch and slow-pitch softball fields.

Before rows of Feelys and the extended Feely family, Farmington Mayor Kevan Soderberg will rename the fields "Feely Fields." [Display full story] 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - JU senior punter/place kicker Ryan Feely was named to The Sports Network 2005 I-AA Mid-Major All-America team as a punter on Tuesday. Feely, who was recently named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District team and earned first team all-PFL honors for the second consecutive year, led the PFL and ranked sixth nationally in punting, averaging 42.8 yard per kick, while nailing 10 punts inside the 20-yard line and forcing five fair catches. 

Feely was signed this off-season from the Falcons and figures to provide the Giants with their most stable place-kicking situation in years. Not only does coach Tom Coughlin like Feely's track record (he has hit 77 percent of his field goal attempts the past four years) but also Feely's aggressive temperament.

"His attitude is one of a player," Coughlin said.

Feely likes to become involved in coverage and is unafraid to lower his shoulder and make a tackle. "I'd rather be pleased if he kicked it out of the end zone and didn't have to tackle," Coughlin said, smiling.

Ryan Feely Earns Football Preseason All-America Honors

Punter ranked 18th in Division I-AA with an average of 40.9 yards per kick last season  July 8, 2005 

JU senior punter/place kicker Ryan Feely (Odessa, Fla.) has been named to the Sports Network's 2005 I-AA Mid-Major Preseason All-America team as a punter, it was announced today. Feely, the younger brother of Atlanta Falcons kicker Jay Feely, also earned Division I-AA Second-Team All-Eastern Region by Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette, I-AA Mid-Major First-Team All-America honors by The Sports Network and CollegeSports.com, as well as First-Team All-Pioneer Football League honors after leading the league in punting during his first season at JU.

Feely not only led the PFL, but ranked 18th in Division I-AA in punting with a 40.9 yard average, including 14 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line and eight fair catches. He also booted 10 punts of 50-or-more yards during the season, including a school-record-tying 69-yarder. Feely connected on 19-of-21 point-after attempts and nailed five field goals, including a pair of career-long 38-yarders.

Feely, who transferred to JU following three seasons at UCF, was slated to be the Dolphins' place kicker but assumed the punting duties, as well, when All-America punter Ryan Long did not return to school. The Dolphins will open the 2005 season at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Sept. 1, at 7:30 p.m.

Ryan Feely Named National Special Teams Player of the Week - Dolphin punter/place kicker garners national honor for the Dolphins in 2004 -  Nov. 2, 2004

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville University junior punter/place kicker Ryan Feely (Odessa, Fla.) has been named Division I-AA Mid-Major National Special Teams Player of the Week by Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette for his play in JU's 31-24 win over Webber International last Saturday. Feely was honored on Monday as the Pioneer Football League Special Teams Player of the Week. JU (3-5, 2-1 PFL) has won three of its last four games as the Dolphins prepare to host Division I-AA Southeastern Louisiana (5-3) Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at D.B. Milne Field.   [Display full story] 

“One of the most underrated things about a football team is a consistent kicker,” said Mora. “The Falcons have that in Jay Feely. We have a guy that can lineup and put it through the uprights on a consistent basis.”

Feely set Falcons records in 2002 with 32 field goals and 138 points to eclipse Morten Anderson’s franchise records. The 138 points led the NFL, and his 32 field goals were tied for second in the league.  [more] 

The Atlanta Falcons today announced that they have re-signed all of their 2004 restricted free agents. The Falcons restricted free agents were: K Jay Feely, G Kynan Forney, G Roberto Garza, DE Karon Riley and LB Matt Stewart. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed by the team. Feely, Forney, Garza, Riley and Stewart were tendered contract offers on March 2. Restricted free agents are players who have completed three accrued seasons of service and whose contracts expired in March. They received qualifying offers from their old clubs and were free to negotiate with any club until April 16, at which time their rights reverted to their original club. If a player accepted an offer from a new club, the old club would have had the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elected not to match the offer, that club may have received draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.

Though coming up short in their bid for a Super Bowl berth, the Falcons 2002 season was full of accomplishment, whether it was Jay Feely breaking the club mark for scoring in a single season or the many amazing feats of first-year starter Mike Vick. Team and personal milestones, as well as game honors are chronicled below:

Placekicker Jay Feely established a Falcons record with 32 field goals on the season, besting the 31 field goals by PK Morten Andersen in 1995.   [ more]

Abstract:  When [Jay Feely]'s career ended at Michigan, [Lloyd Carr] pulled Feely into his office and said, "You can kick in the NFL. You have the mental toughness and the physical talent to play at the next level. You can do it."

"We were sitting on the floor laughing," Feely said. "There I was, kicking field goals in the NFL.   [ more]

Jay Feely has a large forum today. He's the place-kicker for the Atlanta Falcons, who play the Bucs today in a rather big game at Raymond James Stadium - hard by the shadow of Jesuit High School, where Jay excelled in football, soccer and humanity. [more]

TAMPA - They might be outcasts and ostracized by their teammates at some schools. But not at Jesuit High, where kickers hold a place of honor.

That situation hasn't occurred overnight. It's taken more than a decade of kicking stars at Jesuit to achieve such reverence. Just look at some of the gifted feet that have booted footballs through distant uprights for the Tigers: [more]

Garrett Rivas is the biggest threat Jesuit's football team has. Rivas is seemingly in on every big play. When the game is on the line, he always finds a way to step up. If it had not been for Rivas, Jesuit may not have finished the regular season undefeated last year. [more]  

Lost in the disappointment of Atlanta's 37-34 OT loss at Green Bay was the clutch performance of Jay Feely, a second-year kicker out of Michigan who starred at Jesuit High.  Feely forced the extra session by nailing a 52-yard field goal with five seconds left in regulation.

``What I do is I just say a prayer to calm down,'' Feely said. ``We played well enough to win, no doubt.*

Garrett Rivas, Jesuit High School place kicker and punter, committed to Michigan University Wolverines on September 1st, 2002 accepting an offer for a full scholarship. Garrett and his parents attended the Wolverines opener against Washington University on August 31st, which was won on a last minute field goal after Michigan kickers missed the previous three field goal attempts. Congratulations, Garrett!