Over the first weekend of the 2024 UFL season, kicker Jake Bates of the Michigan Panthers made a big impression. In the dying moments of the game, right here at Ford Field, Bates booted two 64-yard field goals to give the Panthers the victory and a 1-0 start to the campaign.

Bates gave his encore on Sunday, and it was nearly as good. With two seconds left in the first half and the Panthers behind the Birmingham Stallions 17-7, Michigan trotted out Bates for a 62-yard attempt. Once more, Bates succeeded.

After the 62-yard completion, Bates has now made 60+ yarders in consecutive games, an accomplishment that the NFL has only seen once:

After a quarter, Bates effortlessly made a 52-yard field goal, bringing his season total of three for three—all from 52 yards or more—to three.

Bates is one of the most unusual developments in professional football, if you missed the story last week. The broadcast last week revealed that Bates’ 64-yard game-winning field goal was his first made or attempted in-game field goal since his high school days. He was a kickoff specialist for the duration of his time in college.

But the story is even crazier than that. Tony Paul of the Detroit News interviewed Bates last week, and it turns out the Panthers kicker never even made a field goal in high school. He only had one high school attempt and it was a missed 47-yarder.

“It was funny. Everything I saw was, ‘He hasn’t made a field goal since high school,’ and I was like, well, that’s a little incorrect, but I was just gonna roll with it,” Bates said. “The truth is, I didn’t make one in high school.”

Now, that isn’t to say field goal kicking is a completely foreign concept to him. Bates actually had a shot at the NFL last season, but after going just 2-for-3 on extra points in the preseason opener for the Houston Texans, he was waived.

What does all of this have to do with the Detroit Lions? Aside from the fact that this is all happening on their field, the Lions are only one of many teams who have already enquired about Bates. Since letting Matt Prater depart in 2021, Detroit has had difficulty locating a long-term kicker. General manager Brad Holmes has already stated that he intends to bring in competition for kicker Michael Badgley, who is currently signed.

Although the UFL’s regulations regarding players registering with the NFL are unclear, it’s widely assumed that they’ve copied the XFL’s rule from the previous season, which forbade players from signing with the NFL until the end of the campaign. The UFL playoffs conclude on June 16 while the regular season ends on June 2.