Margus Hunt

Margus Hunt
refer to caption
Hunt with the Bengals in 2014
No. 92 – Indianapolis Colts
Position: Defensive end
Personal information
Born: (1987-07-14) July 14, 1987
Karksi-Nuia, Estonia
Height: 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight: 298 lb (135 kg)
Career information
College: Southern Methodist
NFL Draft: 2013 / Round: 2 / Pick: 53
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
  • First-team All-C-USA (2012)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 3, 2018
Total tackles: 68
Sacks: 5.5
Forced fumbles: 1
Fumble recoveries: 1
Pass deflections: 6
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Margus Hunt (born July 14, 1987) is an Estonian American football defensive tackle[1] for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at SMU.

Before taking up American football, Hunt competed in the discus throw and shot put, and was the former world junior record holder in discus throw.[2] At 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), he is one of the tallest players in the NFL, hence his nickname, The Estonian Giant.

Early years (track and field)

Hunt grew up in the small town Karksi-Nuia and took up athletics because "there wasn’t much to do". After trying decathlon he decided to concentrate on the throwing events – discus, shot and hammer throw. Hunt started training with Aleksander Tammert, an Olympic bronze medalist in discus throw from the 2004 Summer Olympics. Hunt competed in hammer throw at the 2003 World Youth Championships and discus at the 2004 World Junior Championships, placing eighth and sixth respectively.

In 2005, he won his first title at the European Junior Championships in Kaunas, throwing 62.19 metres (Championship record) with the 1.75 kg discus.

In 2006, at the World Junior Championships in Beijing Hunt established a new world junior record of 66.35 metres in his first throw on the qualifying round. At the final competition Hunt improved his own world junior record to 66.68 m in the fourth round and then 67.32 m in the sixth and final round.

Three days later he won the gold medal in the shot put by 20.53 metres in the final, beating the closest competitor by 39 centimetres. Hunt became the first athlete to win the gold medal both in shot and discus at the World Junior Championships, outperforming Rutger Smith of the Netherlands who won a gold and a bronze in 2000. His winning distance of 20.53 m was a national junior record with the 6 kg shot.

His personal best hammer throw result is 64.89 made on 28 March 2008 in Arlington, Texas.[3][4] His personal best shot put result is 17.98 made on 22 March 2008 in Waco.[5]

His personal best with the senior 2 kg discus is 61.33 meters made on 6 July 2010 in Viljandi.

College career

Hunt left Estonia for Dallas, Texas in 2007 in order to train with Southern Methodist University track and field coach Dave Wollman,[6] and he began attending SMU part-time. However, by the time he arrived at SMU, the university had dropped its men's track program. Hunt wanted to keep working with Wollman, who had previously worked with Estonian discus thrower, 2004 Olympic bronze Aleksander Tammert, and Wollman decided that Hunt's size and athleticism could earn him an athletic scholarship playing for the SMU Mustangs football team.[6] When Hunt tried out for football, his physical power, combined with a 4.7-second 40-yard dash, led Mustangs head football coach June Jones to offer him a scholarship,[6] and he began attending SMU full-time in 2009. He then played for the Mustangs for the next four seasons. On October 12, 2009, Hunt was named the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week.[7] On November 7 Hunt broke the school record for blocked kicks in a season when he blocked an extra-point try and a field goal against Rice. In his first 14 games at SMU he blocked eight kicks, putting him in the top 10 in blocked kicks among all NCAA players.[8] He was named the MVP of the 2012 Hawaii Bowl.

For nearly 10 years, Bruce Feldman, a writer for CBSSports.com, has annually compiled what he calls a "Freak List" of the 10 college football players he considers the most freakish athletes. In 2012, Hunt was on top of his list. According to Feldman, Hunt "sounds like a PlayStation football creation"—despite his 82-inch (2.1 m) wingspan, he is able to bench press 225 pounds (102 kg) 35 times, and has also cleaned 384 pounds (174 kg) and snatched 345 pounds (156 kg). Hunt also boasts a 36-inch (91 cm) vertical jump. Wollman predicted that Hunt would have 45 repetitions and a 4.6-second 40-yard dash at the 2013 NFL combine.[6] Hunt did, in fact, run a 4.60-second 40-yard dash and did 38 bench press repetitions while posting a vertical leap of 34.5-inch (88 cm) at the 2013 combine.[9]

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert jump Broad BP
6 ft 8 in
(2.03 m)		 277 lb
(126 kg)		 10 in
(0.25 m)		 4.60 s 1.63 s 2.63 s 4.51 s 7.07 s 34.5 in
(0.88 m)		 10 ft 1 in
(3.07 m)		 38 reps
All values from NFL Combine.[10]

Cincinnati Bengals

On April 26, 2013, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Hunt in the second round, 53rd pick overall, of the 2013 NFL Draft. Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer compared him to Bengals defensive end/linebacker Michael Johnson at a post-draft news conference, explaining that both players were very raw coming out of college but had the potential to be great.

On October 6, 2013, Hunt made his debut in NFL, when the Bengals beat the New England Patriots 13-6.[11] He played in 10 games and was inactive the other six. He totaled four tackles, a shared sack and seven quarterback pressures as the Bengals won the AFC North.[12]

Hunt totaled seven tackles and one sack in 12 games in 2014 as the Bengals went 10-5-1 and again made the playoffs.[13][14]

Hunt was anticipated to have a breakout season in 2015.[15] He did not, and only totaled 2 tackles and no sacks in 7 games for the Bengals.

Indianapolis Colts

Hunt (left, #92) playing against the Washington Redskins in 2018.

On March 13, 2017, Hunt signed a two-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts.[16] In his first season with the Colts, Hunt totaled 29 tackles and a sack.[17]

In Week 1 of the 2018 season, Hunt had two sacks against his former team the Bengals, nearly totalling the 2.5 career sacks he had coming into the game.[18] In Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Hunt recorded four tackles, including a sack, and recovered his own forced fumble. Through three weeks, Hunt was leading the league in tackles for a loss with eight.[19]

Career statistics

Source: NFL.com

YearTeamGamesTacklesInterceptionsFumb
GGSCombTotalAstSftySacksPDIntTDFF
2013CIN 10031200.50000
2014CIN 12075201.01000
2015CIN 7021100.00000
2016CIN 150179800.02000
2017IND 16529191001.02000
2018IND 33109803.01001
Career68866442405.56001

Achievements (track and field)

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Estonia
2003 Youth World Championships Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada 8th Hammer throw (5 kg) 64.77 PB
2004 World Junior Championships Grosseto, Italy 6th Discus throw (1.75 kg) 58.30 m PB
2005 Junior European Championships Kaunas, Lithuania 1st Discus throw (1.75 kg) 62.19 CR, NJR
2006 Junior World Championships Beijing, China 1st Shot put (6 kg) 20.53 m WJL, NJR
1st Discus throw (1.75 kg) 67.32 m WJR
European Cup First League Group A Prague, Czech Republic 6th Hammer throw 60.21 SB
2007 European U23 Championships Debrecen, Hungary 6th Discus throw 56.49 m
2009 European U23 Championships Kaunas, Lithuania 14th (q) Shot put 17.25 m
9th Discus throw 56.09 m

References

  1. ↑ "Making Changes: Several Colts Players Modifying Positions, Builds". www.colts.com.
  2. ↑ "Margus Hunt" From www.iaaf.org, Retrieved October 18, 2009.
  3. ↑ "News, March 2008". margushunt.ee (in Estonian). March 29, 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  4. ↑ "Margus Hunt hammer throw record" From www.ekjl.ee, Retrieved October 18, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Margus Hunt Shot put record" From www.ekjl.ee, Retrieved October 18, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Feldman, Bruce (May 8, 2012). "Freak List: The 10 craziest athletes in college football". College Football Insider. CBSSports.com. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Hunt Named C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week" (Press release). SMU Athletics. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  8. ↑ Hairopoulos, Kate (September 5, 2010). "Hunt blocks another FG attempt". Dallas Morning News.
  9. ↑ "SMU's Margus Hunt wows scouts at NFL Combine; Texas A&M's Damontre Moore 'really disappointed' after tough showing". Dallas Morning News. dallasnews.com. February 25, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Margus Hunt NFL Combine Results". NFL.com. NFL.com. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Hunt Makes NFL Debut". Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  12. ↑ http://prod.static.bengals.clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/mediaguide14.pdf
  13. ↑ "The Official Site of the Cincinnati Bengals". www.bengals.com.
  14. ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
  15. ↑ "Margus Hunt ready to become an absolute monster". sbnation.com.
  16. ↑ Bowen, Kevin (March 13, 2017). "Colts Sign Defensive End Margus Hunt". Colts.com.
  17. ↑ http://m.espn.com/nfl/playerseasonstats?season=2017&playerId=15844&teamId=11
  18. ↑ https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2018/09/10/indianapolis-colts-vs-bengals-margus-hunt-darius-leonard-shine-jack-doyle-quincy-wilson-dont/1195107002/
  19. ↑ https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2018/09/24/margus-hunt-darius-leonard-up-indianapolis-colts-run-game-leraven-clark-not-vs-philadelphia-eagles/1370309002/
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