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Browns punter Spencer Lanning spent two years after college trying to land an NFL job.

(Joshua Gunther, The Plain Dealer)

BEREA, Ohio -- The unexpected life of Browns punter Spencer Lanning began with the death of a dream in the winter of 2005.

The kid from Rock Hill, S.C., aspired to play soccer in college and perhaps in a lower-tiered professional league in Europe. Lanning was an aggressive, cocky striker who amassed goals and yellow cards with regularity.

The sport consumed him. He played soccer year around and kicked footballs on Friday nights in the fall.

"It was something I did because (the high school team) needed somebody and I didn't take it that serious," the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder said of kicking.

But a tear of a ligament led to a twist of fate. It set Lanning on a course he never charted eight years ago.

--- A diehard Clemson fan became a walk-on at the University of South Carolina.

--- A kicker transformed himself into a college team captain.

--- A competitor spent a surreal month playing minor-league football for the Sacramento Mountain Lions for $3,500 a game after being rejected by four NFL teams.

--- A rookie in his third game became the first player in 45 years with a punt, extra point and touchdown pass in the same game.

Whose life is this, anyway?

"It's crazy to look back and I do it before every game," Lanning said. "It's like, 'wow.' Nine or ten years ago I would have never thought I''d be in the position I am today."

Lanning is a key member of the Browns, a team with a 4-5 record making an unexpected journey of its own by moving into playoff contention. He ranks tied for second in the league with 50 punts and rarely puts his defense in bad position with a poor kick.

That knuckleball he punted Sunday night which produced a third-quarter Tandon Doss fumble, one of key plays in the Browns' 24-18 win over Baltimore? Lanning struck the ball that way intentionally to make it flutter and tougher to catch, Browns special teams coach Chris Tabor said.

"Spencer is kind of a gym rat," he added. "He loves to watch other guys, loves to see how others kick, he likes to work on different kicks. He's very adaptable and I think that's one of his strengths."

The most fateful moment of his life forced him to become that way.

Career change

On Thursday, the Browns scattered for their long weekend courtesy of a bye. Lanning headed home to train with his father, Tad.

Rock Hill, a city of 65,000 residents just south of the North Carolina border, is famous for producing textiles and football players. Among the NFL notables are: former Browns tight end Ben Watson, former Browns linebacker Gerald Dixon, Jeff Burris, Chris Hope and Cordarrelle Patterson. Likely top-five draft pick Jadeveon Clowney also is a native.

Tad Lanning never thought his son would become part of that list.

"Spencer was pretty much as a soccer brat until he was a junior," Tad said.

Just six months after reconstructive knee surgery, Spencer Lanning was playing high school football with the help of a knee brace.

In South Carolina, prep soccer is played in the spring so when football coaches at York Comprehensive High School asked him to kick and punt for them during his junior year he agreed.

His strong right leg made him a natural, but his passion had been soccer since age 6. As a sophomore he was the state's sixth-leading goal scorer playing on a middling prep team.

"I was like a completely different person," Lanning said. "I was aggressive, the guy who played really hard and got into trouble, got cards. Most strikers who are good are kind of arrogant and cocky and I guess I was that guy."

But on Jan. 27, 2005 he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during soccer practice. His world and plans unraveled. He was devastated by an injury to his plant leg, which compromised his game.

"I was never someone who would become mediocre at something I thought I was pretty good at at one time," he said.

Lanning rehabilitated his knee in six months and decided to quit soccer, devoting his energy into kicking and punting. He spent countless hours working with his father.

Tad, a former prep football player, didn't know much about coaching a kicker, but applied his understanding of physics to his son's steps and leg swing. He is a radiation protection specialist for Duke Energy.

"My dad probably is my biggest influence," Lanning said. "He always kept me hungry, he always kept me working toward my goals.

"This is probably terrible to say, but we were out there kicking the ball two weeks after (surgery). I had a knee brace on that went all the way to my hip and we went to the doctor and my dad said, 'Can he be swinging his leg?' And, the doctor said, 'He shouldn't even be standing on it.' We've always been aggressive about things."

Lanning kicked and punted his senior season wearing a brace and earned MVP honors in the state's North-South All-Star Game.

Several major colleges asked him to walk on, but nobody offered a scholarship. His favorite team Clemson, the alma mater of Tad and his mother, Lisa, showed no interest. Ultimately, Lanning chose South Carolina, where he graduated with a degree in exercise science and was awarded a scholarship by his junior season.

His work ethic was so impressive coach Steve Spurrier, who called him "the guy with two last names," made Lanning a senior captain.

While he didn't throw a touchdown pass in college as he did against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 22, the Gamecocks capitalized on his athletic abilities. Lanning ran for a first down on a fake punt and also completed a pass, nullified by a penalty. In an age of specialization, Lanning handled both the kicking and punting duties in his final two seasons.

"It was remarkable to think he had just been playing soccer only a few years earlier," Tad said. "Down here it's every father's dream having your son playing football in the SEC."

And while some in the South might dispute it, there is a higher level of football. Lanning would play in the NFL, but not before his patience and pride was tested.

Getting his shot

In the chaotic final minutes of the Browns' 31-27 win at Minnesota, the coaching staff was trying to determine Lanning's field-goal range. Billy Cundiff had suffered a quad injury and couldn't kick on the last drive.

"Spencer is very strong mentally, an unflappable guy," Tabor said of Lanning who kicked a game-winning 40-yard field goal in the final preseason exhibition. "When Billy got hurt in Minnesota we had to ask him to kick and we were thinking, "What is his field goal range? We were thinking 15 to 20.' He kind of looked at us and said, 'Whaddya mean? I'm good from 35.'"

Lanning's confidence never wavered during the two years he waited to find work with an NFL team. He learned quickly, however, that punters are as disposable as razor blades.

Spencer Lanning kicked a 40-yard field goal to win the Browns' final exhibition game against Chicago.

The undrafted free agent was signed and released by Chicago in 2011. He was picked up by Jacksonville in the winter of 2012 only to watch the Jaguars use a third-round pick on punter Bryan Anger.

"Lisa and I were watching the draft and seeing the ribbon go by on the bottom of the TV screen," Tad recalled. "When Jacksonville took the punter my wife said, 'I think I'm going to throw up."

The Browns signed and later released him in training camp a year ago. The New York Jets did the same. In a desperate attempt to kick start his career, Lanning joined Sacramento of the defunct United Football League. The Mountain Lions played in a minor-league baseball stadium before about 8,000 fans per game. The league included four teams -- Sacramento, Las Vegas, Omaha, Virginia -- and one constant: nobody was getting fully paid.

In Sacramento, practice conditions were poor, there was no weight room and team meals reportedly consisted of hot dogs and stew. The league folded midway through an eight-game schedule.

"The coaches would tell us, 'Fellas, you need to write all these stories down because you could write a book on it and people would not believe this is professional football.'

"We'd take a bus to practice. We would have the old-school Greyhound bus from the Forrest Gump movie pick us up. It had no air. We're in Sacramento in September and it's 90 degrees. We lived in a hotel, we had no cars and they weren't paying us."

Lanning, 25, became a certified personal trainer and gave himself two more years to find an NFL job. His longtime girlfriend, Brittany, never pressured him to join the workforce, he said.

In February, the Browns called again. His family still has the original message saved on their answering machine. Lanning beat out two punters in training camp to win the position.

His net average per punt is 39.5 yards. He ranks second in league with 15 fair catches and tied for eighth in punts inside the 20. He might be best remembered, though, for his 11-yard TD pass to Jordan Cameron and his extra point in Minnesota. His unlikely heroics earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

"We were at my father's house for that game and when Spencer lined up for the PAT, his grandmother said, 'What else are they going to ask that poor boy to do?'" Tad recalled. "My father said, 'Let him go, he can handle it.'"

Although firmly entrenched in the football culture, Lanning still loves soccer. He traveled to Spain not long ago and saw it played at its highest level. He shakes his head and laughs knowing he never could have reached soccer's equivalent to the NFL.

Nothing worked out as Spencer Lanning planned. And for that, he couldn't be happier.