Michigan incoming transfer kicker Beckham Sunderland never envisioned playing college football growing up.
His father is the director of player development for MLS’ FC Cincinnati, while his older brother, Lawson Sunderland, was teammates with soccer superstar Lionel Messi for three years with Inter Miami CF before signing with a professional club in the Netherlands in January.
Soccer has always been Beckham’s first love. After playing for FC Cincinnati Academy growing up, he became the first player in FC Cincinnati history to sign as a homegrown player with the first team. Sunderland, a goalkeeper, was just 17 years old when he signed in October 2020 and played three seasons with the club.
But four concussions in a two-year span forced him to medically retire from soccer.
“It was incredibly tough,” Sunderland told MLive. “That was what my whole life was. That was a tough period in my life. I wanted to keep playing but it wasn’t in the cards for me.”
Sunderland’s soccer career might have been over, but his athletic career was not. His uncle, Brandon Kornblue, is a former Wolverines kicker who now trains dozens of high school, college and pro kickers and punters.
Sunderland had only kicked a football a few times as a kid and never in an organized setting, but Kornblue saw potential and presented him with an opportunity. He wanted to train his nephew to become a kicker.
“That was really hard for him and our whole family just watching him go through that because he had spent his entire life working towards that goal,” Kornblue said of Sunderland’s retirement from soccer. “And he got there. He arrived at the highest level and then he had that taken away from him only being 20 years old. That’s really hard for anybody. In the past, I had never pushed football, but that’s the point where I was like, ‘OK, Beckham, you really should consider (kicking) because this is something where you don’t have to be in head-to-head contact with other guys as much as other positions. You have the build, you have the mentality for it. It just all came down to, ‘Did he have the drive to try this?’
“He’s answered that piece of it. Now you have a guy who’s really got the ability to do something pretty cool. It’s not everybody that gets a scholarship from Michigan.”
It took just over a year of training before Sunderland earned a spot on a college roster. The 6-foot-1, 201-pounder played the 2024 season at Texas State and appeared in two games, kicking off five times and making his only point-after attempt.
Sunderland enjoyed San Marcos, Texas and being part of a team again, but when special teams coach Daniel Da Prato left for New Mexico, Sunderland decided to enter the transfer portal and explore other options.
He received interest from several other schools, including some offers that included name, image, likeness deals, but when the Wolverines called, he couldn’t say no.
“What I always loved is just playing sports and being able to compete and have something to work toward,” Sunderland said. “This is just another avenue to pursue that. I’m incredibly grateful for that opportunity.
“I’ll be honest with pretty much anyone who asks. I enjoy being a goalkeeper in soccer. This is definitely something where it’s an opportunity to be an athlete. If it were up to me, I’d still be playing soccer.”
Adjusting to an entirely different sport didn’t come without challenges. Other soccer players have successfully transitioned into kicking, with Dallas Cowboys All-Pro Brandon Aubrey being the most recent success story, but it is rare, Kornblue said.
Sunderland had to make a collection of tweaks, from his plant foot technique to his follow-through to getting more arc on his kicks. But even Kornblue is surprised how much he has developed in two years.
“When he first started, I could see there was something there but it was choppy,” Kornblue said. “He was able to hit 50, maybe 55-yarders on a great day, but it was different. His kickoffs weren’t very good. He really had to kind of trudge through the first few months and then it just kind of clicked. He really started progressing once he started to get the technique down, the muscle memory changing from soccer to football because they are similar yet different. You can’t do it overnight.
“He’s at a place now where, I mean I didn’t see him being at a Michigan level necessarily six-eight months ago. Part of it is being the worker that he is and just being relentless and consumed by getting better, whether it’s being in the weight room, the nutrition, all the stuff that you need to just continue to develop.”
Outside of the 2024 season at Texas State, Sunderland has spent most of the past two years working with Kornblue in Florida. Along with getting continuous instruction from his uncle, he’s also been surrounded by experienced kickers and punters, including former Wolverines Jake Moody, Brad Robbins and Quinn Nordin.
“Because of his background as a professional athlete, Beckham knows how to work in the weight room, how to condition his body, do all the recovery things that you need to do to be prepared for the season,” said Kornblue, who was on Michigan’s 1997 national championship team. “All that stuff, he’s working as hard as anybody in the country. When we have college coaches that come through the facility where he trains, whether it’s college coaches, our staff’s coaches, whenever they see him in there, it’s, ‘Oh, there’s Beckham.’ He’s the model of just work and doing what he needs to do to take care of his body and get it in the condition that needs to be to kick at his best.
“He’s in a great spot, and I’ve loved every piece of it being able to help him along the way, not just because we’re related, but just because the kind of kid he is and seeing the opportunity he has in front of him.”
Mentally, Kornblue believes Sunderland is conditioned to handle playing in raucous college football environments. He has faced elite competition throughout his soccer career while playing a position that is always under the microscope.
“He’s ready for the pressure,” Kornblue said. “That doesn’t phase him at all. I think the size of the crowd is not going to be an issue as it would for a typical high school kid coming in or somebody who came from another smaller school. I don’t have any concerns about how he’s going to handle the bigger stage or audience.”
Admittedly, Sunderland said he has a long way to go to reach his full potential but is confident he will continue on his upward trajectory. He has two years of eligibility remaining and hopes to win the kickoff job in 2025 before taking over as place-kicker when All-American Dominic Zvada graduates after next season.
Sunderland had never been to a Division I football game before attending the 2023 Michigan-Ohio State thriller in Ann Arbor with Kornblue. Now he will get to experience the rivalry first-hand.
But he understands there is still work to be done. He can be found on the field or in the weight room until he reports to Ann Arbor later this month.
“I’m definitely a perfectionist, so it’s something I love and something I absolutely hate about it,” Sunderland said. “It’s the exact same thing every day for kicking. There are days where you get on the field and just absolutely having a miserable time because it’s the same thing over and over. But there are days where that competition comes alive, and that’s when I enjoy it. I hate when I have to go out and kick by myself, train by myself. But when you’re out there with other guys, the competition, that’s what I love. When things get dialed in, like game day atmospheres, it’s worth going through the sucky stuff for, and that was even at Texas State. I can’t imagine what’s going to be like with 110,000 fans (at Michigan Stadium).”
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