Sports

Ridgewood Native Younghoe Koo Signs With NFL's Los Angeles Chargers

Koo is best known for his trick field goals that have made their way around social media.

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Village native Younghoe Koo has signed with the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.

Koo is rookie kicker from Georgia Southern. He was born in South Korea and moved to the United States in 2006. He was Georgia Southern's first All-American and hit 95 percent of his field goals last year, good for second in the country.

On Twitter Sunday afternoon Koo said he was "blessed" to be signed by the Chargers.

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Koo is probably most famous for this insane trick kick he made while a senior at Ridgewood High School that went viral.

In a profile by The Record, Koo said his first weeks at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in were lonely because he didn’t understand the customs or the language, and worst of all, he had no friends.

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Koo played soccer in South Korea, but gave American football a try. It worked out pretty well. Koo was an all-county defensive back and made 6-of-8 field goals and converted 32 extra point attempts, according to the report. He was offered a scholarship to play at Georgia Southern.

Koo converted 28-of-29 extra points. his senior year at Georgia Southern, Yahoo! Sports reported. He was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, aato the nation’s best kicker, and a third-team All-American.

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Photo: Kicker Younghoe Koo, No. 9, during a field goal attempt against the South Alabama Jaguars during the third quarter on November 28, 2015 at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Bennett/Getty Images Sports/Getty Images)

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