Editing Placekicker (section)

==Shoes==
Placekickers in the modern game usually wear specialized shoes (soccer cleats). The reason for this is that, as compared to regular football cleats which use tougher and stiffer plastic, soccer cleats are primarily made out of leather. Kickers will also, in certain situations, wear two different cleats. One is their kicking cleat and the other is referred to as their plant foot. The reason that kickers will wear a football cleat on their plant foot as opposed to a soccer cleat is because the stiffer material will help the plant foot have a firm grip in the ground and hold the kicker's ankle in a tight position.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What type of shoes should football kickers wear? {{!}} Football|url=https://www.sharecare.com/health/football/what-shoes-football-kickers-wear|access-date=March 7, 2021|website=Sharecare|language=en}}</ref> In very rare circumstances, though, some prefer to kick [[barefoot]]. [[Tony Franklin (placekicker)|Tony Franklin]] was one such barefoot kicker, who played in [[Super Bowl]]s for the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] and [[New England Patriots]]. Another was [[Rich Karlis]], who once shared two kicking records - the record for longest field goal in Super Bowl history, kicking a 48-yard field goal in [[Super Bowl XXI]] to tie Jan Stenerud and also for the most field goals in a game, seven for Minnesota in 1989, tying [[Jim Bakken]]'s record of the time, a record since broken by [[Rob Bironas]].<ref name="barefoot">{{cite web |url=http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/061016 |title=A brilliant idea! (For now) |last=Klosterman |first=Chuck |date=June 10, 2016 |website=Page 2 |publisher=ESPN |access-date=January 15, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.profootballhof.com/football-history/most-field-goals-in-a-game/ |title=Most Field Goals in a Game |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Pro Football Hall of Fame |access-date=January 15, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.milehighreport.com/2011/2/10/1986220/denver-broncos-greats-by-the-numbers-rich-karlis |title=Denver Broncos Greats... By The Numbers - Rich Karlis |last=Bena |first=John |date=February 10, 2011 |website=Mile High Report |access-date=January 15, 2019 }}</ref> [[England|Englishman]] [[Rob Hart]] kicked barefoot during his 7-year [[NFL Europa|NFL Europe]] career. John Baker also used the style in the 1990s in the [[Canadian Football League]], as did [[José Cortéz]] in the [[XFL (2001)|XFL]]. The last person to kick barefoot in an NFL game was [[Jeff Wilkins]] in 2002.

A unique shoe was worn by [[New Orleans Saints]] kicker [[Tom Dempsey]]; Dempsey had a deformed kicking foot that left him with a flat kicking surface at the front of his foot, and he wore a shoe that accommodated it. After Dempsey kicked a record-setting 63-yard field goal using the special shoe in 1970, the league instituted a [[1977 NFL season#Major rule changes|rule change]] establishing standards for kicking shoes in 1977, informally known as the "Tom Dempsey Rule", that "any shoe that is worn by a player with an artificial limb on his kicking leg must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=rulesname|title=Rules of the Name, or How the Emmitt Rule Became the Emmitt Rule|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211145916/http://www.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=rulesname|work=[[Professional Football Researchers Association]]|location=[[Grand Island, New York]]|publisher=PFRA, LLC|archive-date=December 11, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogmedia.thenewstribune.com/media/2006%20NFL%20RULEBOOK.pdf|title=Official NFL Rulebook 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216075609/http://blogmedia.thenewstribune.com/media/2006%20NFL%20RULEBOOK.pdf|work=[[The News Tribune]]|publisher=[[McClatchy]]|location=[[Tacoma, Washington]]|archive-date=February 16, 2010}}See Rule 5, Section 3, Article 3 Paragraph (g)</ref> Dempsey played for two more years after the rule's institution, retiring in 1979.

Barefoot kickers are banned in the vast majority of high school games, due to a rule by the [[National Federation of State High School Associations]], which requires all players to wear shoes. [[University Interscholastic League|Texas]] plays by [[NCAA]] rules,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.miaa.net/gen/miaa_generated_bin/documents/basic_module/MIAAHandbook1113.pdf|title=Massachusetts rules|website=miaa.net}}</ref> and therefore barefoot kickers are legal in Texas.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}}