Bailey Flint
No. 26     Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Flint with the Tiger-Cats in 2023
Born: (1996-09-05) September 5, 1996
Melbourne, Victoria
Career information
StatusActive
CFL statusGlobal
Position(s)P
Height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight210 lb (95 kg)
CollegeToledo
High schoolLayton Christian Academy
(Layton, Utah)
CFL Draft2022G / Round: 1 / Pick: 2
Drafted byHamilton Tiger-Cats
Career history
As player
2023–presentHamilton Tiger-Cats
*Offseason and/or practice squad member only

Bailey Robert Flint (born September 5, 1996) is an Australian gridiron football punter for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Toledo.

Early life and high school career

A native of Melbourne, Australia, Flint played gridiron football for the first time in 2015 when he participated in a nine-on-nine football game.[1] Just a few months after joining his local club team, he played with Team Australia in the Down Under Bowl.[2] From there, Flint got the chance to play one year of high school football at Layton Christian Academy in Layton, Utah, during which he weighed 260 pounds and played both right tackle and defensive end.[1] He went on to lose a large amount of weight but gave up on the sport as he did not think he could play college football.[1]

Flint then trained with Prokick Australia, a Melbourne-based academy designed to convert Australian athletes into gridiron football kickers and punters at the collegiate and professional levels.[1] He credits the program with re-igniting his drive to succeed in the sport.[1]

College career

Flint played 49 games in five seasons with the Toledo Rockets from 2017 to 2021, recording 211 punts for 8,501 yards and an average of 40.3 yards per punt. He also had 16 touchbacks and only had one punt blocked.[3]

As a freshman, Flint played in all 14 games and recorded 47 punts for an average of 38.0 yards, including a season-long 57-yard punt against Ball State.[4] As a sophomore, he appeared in 13 games and punted 61 times for an average of 40.9 yards.[4] In a win over Bowling Green, Flint ran for a first down after a fake punt.[5] Two weeks later, he punted eight times for an average of 41.4 yards against Buffalo, earning Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Co-Special Teams Player of the Week honors.[6] As a junior in 2019, Flint averaged 47.3 yards per punt until he missed the final eight games after suffering a season-ending injury that damaged several ligaments in his left ankle.[4][7] In a win over Colorado State, he averaged 52.0 yards on six punts, including a career-high 72 yarder in the first quarter.[8]

Prior to his senior season in 2020, Flint was named to the preseason watchlist for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's best punter.[9] He was also named a team captain.[4] Flint punted 19 times for an average of 36.4 yards per punt before the remainder of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

He used the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes due to the shortened 2020 season and returned to Toledo for a fifth year in 2021. Flint was named to the Ray Guy Award preseason watchlist for the second year in a row.[9] He punted 64 times for 2,578 yards and an average of 40.3 yards per punt. In a loss to Notre Dame, Flint punted seven times for an average of 45.4 yards, including punts of 68 and 57 yards, and earned MAC West Special Teams Player of the Week honors.[10]

Professional career

Flint was selected by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL) as the second overall pick in the 2022 CFL Global Draft.[1] Later that month he was invited to the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie minicamp on a tryout basis,[11] but was not signed.

In May 2023, it was announced that he had signed with the Tiger-Cats.[12]

Personal life

Bailey Flint was born to Douglas Flint and Rachel Perry and has one brother and two sisters.[4] He was the first person in his family to graduate high school.[7] Flint went on to graduate from the University of Toledo with bachelor's degrees in media communication and theater, performing in the university's production of All Quiet on the Western Front in 2018.[7][13] Flint studied theatre in Moscow the following year.[4][7] Flint also gained a considerable social media following while at Toledo, garnering over 160,000 TikTok followers by his fifth year, which was the most of any Toledo student-athlete.[14] However, due to being an international student, he was not able to receive compensation for use of his name, image, and likeness (NIL).[14]

Flint also sings and plays the ukelele and has recorded over 40 songs as of 2021.[14] In July 2021, he released a five-song extended play (EP) called #TheHeartbreakClub.[15][16]

Community service

During his time in school, Flint became well known in Toledo for his commitment to community service.[17] For several years, he volunteered at My First Days Daycare to read and spend time with the children and even recorded YouTube videos of himself reading for them to watch during the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][18] He later sold t-shirts to raise money to update the daycare facilities.[7][18] Flint credits his own modest upbringing in Australia, and then seeing children in similar situations in the U.S., with helping him decide to use his platform to make a difference.[7][18] He was honored with the Findlay Family Athletic Award in 2019, given to Toledo student-athletes based upon the principles of volunteerism, sportsmanship, and community service.[4] Flint was also named to the Wuerffel Trophy watchlist in 2020 and 2021.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barnes, Dan (May 4, 2022). "Australian punter Bailey Flint could bring eclectic resume to Tiger-Cats". Toronto Sun. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  2. ↑ Berendzen, Justin (January 28, 2022). "2022 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Bailey Flint, P, University of Toledo". NFL Draft Diamonds. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Former Toledo punter Bailey Flint will attend Steelers minicamp". The Blade. May 1, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Bailey Flint". Toledo Rockets Athletics. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Rockets Blast Past Bowling Green, 52-36". Toledo Rockets Athletics. October 6, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Bailey Flint Named MAC West Co-Special Teams Player of the Week". Toledo Rockets Athletics. October 22, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rowland, Kyle (October 20, 2021). "Toledo punter Bailey Flint pays it forward to local daycare". The Blade. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Post-Game Notes vs. Colorado State". Toledo Rockets Athletics. September 22, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Bailey Flint Named to Ray Guy Award Watch List". Toledo Rockets Athletics. July 27, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Dyontae Johnson, Bailey Flint Earn MAC Player of Week Honors". Toledo Rockets Athletics. September 13, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  11. ↑ "No. 2 Overall Pick in CFL Global Draft Among Tryouts at Steelers Rookie Minicamp". Heavy. May 14, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Ticats sign '22 Global pick Bailey Flint, three others" (Press release). Canadian Football League. May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  13. ↑ Buckley, Brian (November 5, 2018). "UT punter Flint steps into spotlight in theater show". The Blade. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Briggs, David (July 18, 2021). "Briggs: Here's why UT's most marketable athlete is forbidden from cashing in". The Blade. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  15. ↑ MacNeil, Shannon (July 6, 2021). "University of Toledo football player releases music". Spectrum News 1. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  16. ↑ "#TheHeartbreakClub". Spotify. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  17. ↑ Rowland, Kyle (September 4, 2022). "3 things we learned about Toledo football against Long Island". The Blade. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  18. 1 2 3 Strack, Jordan; Gingerich, Troy (October 20, 2021). "Rockets punter Flint using platform to give back to Toledo". WTOL. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Bailey Flint Named to Wuerffel Trophy Watch List". Toledo Rockets Athletics. July 29, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
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