Tom Malone

Education

After looking at University of Southern California, Stanford and Washington, he chose University of Southern California. He graduated a semester early and enrolled at University of Southern California in the spring of 2002.

Career

He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Southern California. Malone went to Temescal Canyon High School.

After beginning his football career at wide receiver he became a punter after discovering that he could kick the ball far better.

Malone entered the 2002 season as University of Southern California"s first true freshman starting punter in ten years, playing all 13 games and averaging 42.1 yards on his 62 punts. He made the All-Freshman Team in several publications.

In the 2003 season, the sophomore again appeared in all 13 games, averaging 49.0 yards (breaking the previous University of Southern California record) on his 42 punts. Malone earned first-team All-American honors from Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.com, SI.com and Collegefootballnews.com, becoming University of Southern California"s first-ever All-American punter.

Malone was a lead contender for the national punting title, but because of University of Southern California"s very efficient offense that year he was five punts shy of having the National Collegiate Athletic Association-required minimum 3.6 punts per game to be listed—his 49.0 average was 1.0 yards above the national leader.

Going into his junior season, Malone had become a fan favorite due to the novelty of having an All-American punter at a school that dominated offensively. lieutenant was this campaign that dubbed Malone "the Bomb". During the 2004 season, Malone again appeared in all 13 games, he averaging 43.8 yards on 49 punts.

His performance at the 2005 Federal Express Orange Bowl earned him a place on Columbia Broadcasting System Sportsline.com"s All-Bowl Team.

In the summer before his senior season, Malone injured his right hip during workouts which limited his ability to practice during the season. During his final season, the University of Southern California offense performed better than it had in his previous seasons: averaged 50 points a game and only allowing Malone 30 punts in 12 games, lower than any previous season.

University of Southern California did not punt during his final home game, a 66-19 offensive explosion against rival-University of California, Los Los Angeles Despite the step backwards, Malone took things well saying, "From a team standpoint, this could not have gone better. lieutenant"s the most fun you could ever imagine.

From a personal standpoint, it"s been a little frustrating." He graduated from University of Southern California in 2006 with a degree in political science.

San Francisco 49ers

Malone was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent on May 5, 2006, but was waived by the team on July 9, 2006. New England Patriots

The New England Patriots signed Malone to their practice squad on December 20, 2006. When former University of Southern California teammate Mario Danelo died in January 2007, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave him a week off and paid to send him to the funeral.

He was re-signed to a future contract on January 23, 2007, but was waived on August 22, 2007.

He was then signed to the Patriots" practice squad on September 10, 2008, waived from it on September 15, 2008, and re-signed to the team"s practice squad on November 26, 2008. He was waived on May 5, 2009, but re-signed on June 1, 2009.

He was waived again on August 1, 2009. Seattle Seahawks

Malone was signed by the Seattle Seahawks on February 13, 2010.

He was waived on April 28, 2010.

Achievements

• A University of Southern California fan began a humorous and well-meaning "Malone4Heisman" campaign that received attention from both his teammates (including that year"s actual Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart) and major sports media outlets. He ranked ninth nationally in punting (438, first in Pac-10) and was a semifinalist for the 2004 Ray Guy Award.

Membership

Malone has also been a member of the New England Patriots, New York Sentinels, Seattle Seahawks, Sacramento Mountain Lions, and Saint Louis Rams.