National Football Foundation

A four-year star punter for LSU, Chad Kessler led the Tigers to a 30-16-1 record, two SEC West titles and victories in the 1995 Independence Bowl, 1996 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the 1997 Independence Bowl. The first player in NCAA history to average over 50 yards per punt in a single-season, he holds the national and LSU record for single-season punt average (50.28). A First Team All-American and two-time First Team All-SEC selection, Kessler ranks second in school history in career punts (186) and punt yards (7,976) and third in career punt average (42.9).

Compiling a 3.9 GPA in microbiology, he was a First Team All-American and four-time Academic All-SEC selection. Kessler was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, ODK and Mortar Board, and he twice received the New Orleans Quarterback Club Scholastic Achievement Award. He was a founding member of LSU’s Volunteer Visitors to Hospitals program. Kessler signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad but did not make the team. He earned his M.D. from LSU in 2002 and completed his internship and residency at Wake Forest University in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Kessler is currently an otolaryngology specialist at the Rock Hill, N.C., office of Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Associates, P.A.