TicketsBy Dan Hoard
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - When you think of Australia, what are the first things that come to mind?
Kangaroos? The Great Barrier Reef? The Sydney Opera House? Crocodile Dundee? Vegemite?
It's time to add punters to the list.
Over the past seven years, more than 60 Aussies have punted for NCAA football teams, and Cincinnati's punter this year is expected to be 6'5", 220 lb. freshman James Smith from Wangaratta, Australia.
"We come from an Australian Rules football background," said Smith. "People in the United States grow up primarily throwing and catching the football, wanting to be a quarterback or a wide receiver. Whereas, he grow up kicking a football. It's second nature to us."
"I guess they kick the ball constantly throughout the game," said UC placekicker Andrew Gantz. "And it's punting – it's not kicking field goals. They always have the ball in their hands and they're doing drop kicks to each other and stuff like that."
Two years ago, Smith quit playing Australian Rules football and began training at Prokick Australia, a Melbourne-based kicking academy established in 2006 to help aspiring punters further their education and possibly play pro football in the US.
"My coach Nathan Chapman has trained the last three Ray Guy Award winners," said Smith. "Tom Hackett (Utah) won two in a row, Tom Hornsby (Memphis) won one, and Mitch Wishnowski (Utah) won the last one. So it's pretty ingrained in our culture that we can kick the ball and more teams are looking and contacting us."
Another product of Prokick Australia was Ohio State's punter for the last four years Cameron Johnston. That gave Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell a connection to the academy and helped him learn about Smith.
"Isn't wasn't like we went over there to see him kick but we got tape on him," said Fickell. "I guess there could be trick photography, but you can watch him kick. Heck, you can FaceTime and watch him kick. There are a lot of ways to get things done and not have to travel 10,000 miles."
"Once the phone call from Coach Fick and the recruiting staff came it was a big whirlwind and I was sort of shell-shocked," said Smith. "Before I knew it, I was over here within four or five months. It's great to be here now and I'm really enjoying it."
Although Smith has never played American football, there seems to be little concern about his ability to adapt.
"He's never faced a live rush and some of this stuff," said Fickell. "But you have to trust the people that you know and the people that have been good to you in the past."
"The coaches showed great faith in me in bringing me across and I've been working hard, so I don't think it's going to be a problem at all," said Smith.
The 22-year-old is also rapidly adjusting to life in the US according to his roommate.
"It's a bit of a cultural exchange for him," said Gantz. "He tries to get in the wrong side of my car when I'm driving and little things like that. And there are sayings that are different. Dinner is 'tea' for them. He's like, 'Are we going to go for tea tonight?' And I'm like, 'What the heck is tea? I don't drink tea.' Just little things like that."
For Smith, earning a Division I scholarship was not a little thing.
"Look at what these guys have had to go through to get where they are," said Fickell. "We have 17 and 18 year olds where everything has come pretty naturally to them. They've been the best player on their team since they started football at 9 years old. Compare that to a 22-year-old who travels four hours four days a week just to go kick with some guy in the midst of working on the farm and helping the family. They've sacrificed and it means a heck of a lot to them. I like those kind of guys."
"I'm loving it here," Smith told me. "Everybody has been so accommodating and welcoming. That's probably why I liked it here so much – it reminded me of home. It's a tight-knit community and everyone at UC has been really good to me."
I'd love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.nfl.net
If you're on Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard
And I'm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dan.hoard.1
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - When you think of Australia, what are the first things that come to mind?
Kangaroos? The Great Barrier Reef? The Sydney Opera House? Crocodile Dundee? Vegemite?
It's time to add punters to the list.
Over the past seven years, more than 60 Aussies have punted for NCAA football teams, and Cincinnati's punter this year is expected to be 6'5", 220 lb. freshman James Smith from Wangaratta, Australia.
"We come from an Australian Rules football background," said Smith. "People in the United States grow up primarily throwing and catching the football, wanting to be a quarterback or a wide receiver. Whereas, he grow up kicking a football. It's second nature to us."
"I guess they kick the ball constantly throughout the game," said UC placekicker Andrew Gantz. "And it's punting – it's not kicking field goals. They always have the ball in their hands and they're doing drop kicks to each other and stuff like that."
Two years ago, Smith quit playing Australian Rules football and began training at Prokick Australia, a Melbourne-based kicking academy established in 2006 to help aspiring punters further their education and possibly play pro football in the US.
"My coach Nathan Chapman has trained the last three Ray Guy Award winners," said Smith. "Tom Hackett (Utah) won two in a row, Tom Hornsby (Memphis) won one, and Mitch Wishnowski (Utah) won the last one. So it's pretty ingrained in our culture that we can kick the ball and more teams are looking and contacting us."
Another product of Prokick Australia was Ohio State's punter for the last four years Cameron Johnston. That gave Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell a connection to the academy and helped him learn about Smith.
"Isn't wasn't like we went over there to see him kick but we got tape on him," said Fickell. "I guess there could be trick photography, but you can watch him kick. Heck, you can FaceTime and watch him kick. There are a lot of ways to get things done and not have to travel 10,000 miles."
"Once the phone call from Coach Fick and the recruiting staff came it was a big whirlwind and I was sort of shell-shocked," said Smith. "Before I knew it, I was over here within four or five months. It's great to be here now and I'm really enjoying it."
Although Smith has never played American football, there seems to be little concern about his ability to adapt.
"He's never faced a live rush and some of this stuff," said Fickell. "But you have to trust the people that you know and the people that have been good to you in the past."
"The coaches showed great faith in me in bringing me across and I've been working hard, so I don't think it's going to be a problem at all," said Smith.
The 22-year-old is also rapidly adjusting to life in the US according to his roommate.
"It's a bit of a cultural exchange for him," said Gantz. "He tries to get in the wrong side of my car when I'm driving and little things like that. And there are sayings that are different. Dinner is 'tea' for them. He's like, 'Are we going to go for tea tonight?' And I'm like, 'What the heck is tea? I don't drink tea.' Just little things like that."
For Smith, earning a Division I scholarship was not a little thing.
"Look at what these guys have had to go through to get where they are," said Fickell. "We have 17 and 18 year olds where everything has come pretty naturally to them. They've been the best player on their team since they started football at 9 years old. Compare that to a 22-year-old who travels four hours four days a week just to go kick with some guy in the midst of working on the farm and helping the family. They've sacrificed and it means a heck of a lot to them. I like those kind of guys."
"I'm loving it here," Smith told me. "Everybody has been so accommodating and welcoming. That's probably why I liked it here so much – it reminded me of home. It's a tight-knit community and everyone at UC has been really good to me."
I'd love to hear from you at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.nfl.net
If you're on Twitter, you can follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/Dan_Hoard
And I'm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dan.hoard.1