Advertisement |
Philip Drury Dawson (born January 23, 1975 in West Palm Beach, Florida) is an American football placekicker for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League.
Dawson attended Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas and was a letterman in football. As a senior, he was a starter at both kicker and offensive tackle until he hurt his knee in a preseason scrimmage. He thought he might have to have season ending surgery, but he gutted it out, stuck to kicking, and was named as an All-American and the Southwest Region Offensive Player of the Year by SuperPrep. Dawson graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1993.
Dawson attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a four-year letterman in football. After redshirting his freshman year, he scored 80 points his first year of playing. He also tied a school record with 54 consecutive extra points. The following season he made honorary All-America honors while leading the Longhorns in scoring. He made first-team All-America his junior and senior years, while simultaneously making All-Big 12. He was a B.A. in political science. Dawson is famous for his 1995 game-winning field goal against University of Virginia; booting a 50-yarder against a 30-MPH wind to give Texas a dramatic 17-16 victory as time expired.