The National Football League has never had an openly gay player and Alan Gendreau wants to change that.

He’s got the gay part down.

Now all he has to do is make it on an NFL team.

Gendreau, 23, was a standout placekicker at Middle Tennessee State where he had a record-breaking career and seemed headed to the pros.

But a poor start to his senior year derailed that path and he was not selected in the 2012 NFL draft.

‘Right now, looking back when I’m 40, I can’t say I gave it my best shot,’ Gendreau says in an Outsports.com profile. ‘I can’t say I really tried to make it into the NFL. Last year I did it half-assed. If I don’t give it everything I have now, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.’

But he is trying again, this time as an openly gay player who could be on a potentially historical journey.

‘All those kids playing sports in the South or anywhere else, kids who are afraid to be themselves, I just want to put my arm around them and help them,’Gendreau says. ‘And if my story can do that, I figure I owe it to them to give it the best ending I can.’

Super agent Leigh Steinberg, whose clients have included Hall of Famers Warren Moon, Troy Aikman and Thurman Thomas, tells Outsports he believes the league is ready for an openly gay player.

‘His sexual orientation is not going to matter one bit,’ Steinberg says. ‘The only thing that matters is if he can put that ball between those goal posts. If he can do that, and if he can do it consistently, he’ll have a shot at the NFL.’

He adds: ‘Ten years ago, I would have told you football wasn’t ready for this, It would have been ugly. But this generation is different.’