Marshall University Athletics
Inside The Herd: Lorcan Quinn, Football
11/25/2025 3:58:00 PM | Football, General
Competition for NFL tickets becomes ticket to Division I scholarship, record-setting year
Editor's Note: Inside The Herd is an original series where we highlight our student-athletes and tell their Marshall stories. Every student-athlete at Marshall has a story about their journey and we hope that their stories inspire others to live their Marshall moments as well! Go Herd!
Inside The Herd – Lorcan Quinn (video)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – In 2024, Lorcan Quinn was working along the roads of Northern Ireland laying telecommunications wires along with his brothers and friends.
At that time, his football dreams were for Gaelic football – not American football – as he looked to make a name for himself as a goalkeeper with his club team in Donaghmore.
Quinn had seen plenty of success in Gaelic football with a 2021 All-Ireland title for Tyrone and also with an Under-20 Ulster title with his county where he stood out.
His first venture into American football ironically came in a fun competition in Ireland where the winner would get tickets to an NFL contest in Ireland. It was a competition that Quinn actually did not win – losing in a kick-off to another tied competitor – but it led to something far bigger: a Division I scholarship at Marshall.
"So, this started for me over a year ago now as I entered a competition back home with Leader Kicking," Quinn explained. "Back then, it was as innocent as trying to win tickets for an NFL game. I went to the competition and done well – didn't win it unfortunately, but the coach Tadhg Leader of Leader Kicking, he saw something in me and another group of lads.
"He basically got to work with us and he said, 'There's opportunities for you lads over in America.' So back then, I was thinking, 'Is there really any way I can do this?' A year on now, I'm sitting here. It's all real now."
Now, instead of kicking for a chance to win NFL tickets, Quinn is kicking in such fashion that he could - one day - be the guy whom Irish fans are coming to see in the NFL – an incredible journey over the last year that has become one of the best stories in college football in 2025.
Quinn, who is currently 19 of 24 on field goal attempts this season, has already broken Marshall's career record for 50-yard field goals with four while also tying for the second-longest field goal in program history at 55 yards. His 19 field goals also have tied a Marshall single-season record heading into the final game of the regular season against Georgia Southern.
It is all part of a year-long transition that even Quinn could not have envisioned in his wildest dreams as he swapped the green or Ireland for the Kelly green worn at Marshall.
It all became real when head coach Tony Gibson threw him out there for his first-ever field goal attempt – a 50-yarder against Missouri State, which he nailed.
"I'm happy with a lot of the things I've gotten in coming here," Quinn said. "My first-ever field goal attempt was 50 yards. If you'd have told me I was going to get that, I'd have pulled your arm off to take that opportunity, so I'm really happy with the way a lot of things have went."
That field goal was another first in a year full of them for Quinn.
Everything for Quinn was a change - from putting on a helmet for the first time in fall camp to taking the field for his first game in front of 93,000 fans at Georgia.
"Everything coming over here was a first with all the gear in the locker room and the (clothing) loop – I didn't even know how the loop worked," Quinn joked. "I had to get teammates to help me get my pads on and things like that there. Essentially, everything is a first."
Heck, even the way the ball is kicked compared to Gaelic football is a change.
"Kicking a Gaelic football, you're essentially setting the ball down and it's a free go at it – no one is rushing you or there's no operation time," Quinn said. "I'm not saying it's easy to do because, obviously, it's a refined skill in kicking a Gaelic football, but there's a lot more timing here and it's a different ball shape. There's stuff that transfers over, but essentially, it's a lot different."
To achieve his 2025 accomplishments, Quinn first had to take a massive leap of faith.
Leaving his Gaelic football dreams, his family and friends, along with the familiarity of the Irish life was no easy decision, however.
In the end, though, Quinn traded in work on the roads of Ireland for the skies to America in hopes of finding his footing at the Division I level in the United States.
Essentially, he followed the Leader – Leader Kicking, that is.
"The roads was not where I wanted to be my whole life, so basically once that job was packed in, I went full in on this," Quinn said. "Once Tadhg said there's an opportunity here, I left the work and went full on this and now I'm back into college…
"It's huge opportunities over here and I'm really, really happy with what I'm doing right now, but leaving family, friends and all things like that at home was really, really tough. There's an opportunity here to chase, and I kind of just want to dive into that and basically give it my all for whatever time the journey lasts. Those sacrifices will hopefully be worth it at some point."
Quinn credited a solid nucleus of people around him – especially the Marshall specialist room – for being key contributors to his success.
"When I first landed at the airport, Coach White personally came and picked me up and brought me here," Quinn said. "From the get-go, I thought that was really a nice gesture and he's been more than good to me and given me everything here. And the specialists, in particular, have been great to me.
"Brock Walters reached out to me before I got here and he's originally from Hawai'i. He said, 'Look, I know what you're going through.' He's gone through the same thing and he's been a shoulder to lean on since I got here – from taking me to get a mattress for my bed to all sorts of things like that. We have a really tight specialist room and with the (whole) team, there's a lot of really good guys in there and I've made friendships that I'll have there forever."
Quinn's first experience into American football has brought him to a place with a connection to its football team that no one other program in America has – the bond built through the tragedy of the 1970 plane crash.
Learning of Marshall's history and going through the recent Fountain Ceremony were eye-opening experiences as Quinn continues to build his foundation of American football.
"The ceremony just showed how for everyone here in the town, football is such a huge part of it," Quinn said. "The ceremony gave me goosebumps just showing how much people care about this football program, the 75. The huge turnout just goes to show how much the people do care."
It is something that adds to his experience as he continues to grow within American football and quickly make a name for himself as one of the elite kickers in FBS.
One thing that Quinn said never gets old is the adrenaline of seeing a kick going through the uprights – a feeling that he loves enjoying with his teammates.
"There's massive enjoyment with kicking field goals and the feel is immense when it goes through, but when you see your teammates coming and celebrating with you, it makes you realize how big a deal that is to them as well," Quinn said. "Obviously, I love scoring, and then when the team are really hyping you up after, that's something you really cherish."
If Marshall's players rally to Quinn to celebrate a field goal on Saturday, it will mark history as Quinn would break the single-season record for field goals while becoming the first in Marshall history to hit 20 field goals in a season.
It would be quite a fitting celebration for Quinn, whose leap of faith took him on a 3,700-mile journey from Donaghmore, Northern Ireland to the Marshall record books.
To watch the full-length video as Lorcan discusses his journey from Northern Ireland to Marshall University, click HERE.
INSIDE THE HERD
Name: Lorcan Quinn
Sport: Football
Position: Kicker
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Donaghmore, Ireland
Awards/Accolades
- Sun Belt Conference Special Teams Player of the Week – Oct. 20
- Tied Marshall single-game record with four field goals – Oct. 18 vs. Texas State
- Kicked 2nd-longest field goal in MU history – a 55-yarder vs. Coastal Carolina – Oct. 30
- Broke Marshall career record for 50-yard field goals (4) against JMU – Nov. 8
- Tied Marshall record for field goals in a season (19) at App State – Nov. 22
- Sun Belt Conference's leader in scoring for 2025 (94 points)
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