Murray State’s Hood has established a long history with Australian punters

So, after the assembled media had a chance to ask their questions, Murray State football media specialist Clay Wagoner turned the event over to the audience for questions. The first asked the technician to chronicle the trajectory of that Australian — Orion Phillips, who is from Sandringham, which is on the south-east coast of the continent, by becoming a signatory to Racer football.

Hood revealed that he has a long history with the Land Down Under gamblers.

“That’s pretty long,” Hood said as he began to discuss, in general, how his teams, as well as others he’s worked as an assistant for, have come to use quite a few Australian punters.

“I don’t know what year it was, but it was a long time ago, and I was on the football field in eastern Kentucky (during his first job as the Colonels’ head coach when they were still members of the Ohio Valley Conference, just like Murray State) and my phone rang. He was a guy named Rick Sang and he runs this organization that runs a bunch of camps (for kickers/shooters). In fact, when I was (at Eastern), he was running camps for the legendary Ray Guy (who was a Hall of Fame kicker for the Oakland Raiders).

“And he said, ‘Hello, Hood! Do you need a bettor? Well, I really didn’t. We have this guy combo and I was trying to steal a base, so to speak, in between letting this guy punt and punt, so I didn’t have to pay an extra scholarship. I said, ‘Why do you ask?’

“He said, ‘Well, I’m in Australia and I’m doing this camp,’ and it was his first time doing one there. He said: ‘Well, I handed this kid a ball on the 50 and told him to take it out (with a punt) somewhere between the 10 and the goal line. He shut it down at the three yard line…and he told me he was sorry. I think you should take a look at it.’”

Long story short, Hood found a new punter through Sang’s Pro-Kick Australia program. His name was Jordan Berry and he became an All-American punter for Hood at Eastern. He was one of three Australian players to come to the United States that year and kick/punt for college soccer teams and became a valuable asset for Pittsburgh and Minnesota in the NFL.

Soon after, Eastern had another Australian import, Keith Wrzuszczak, who also became an All-American punter for the Colonels. Then, after Hood went to Southeastern Conference member Kentucky to coach defensive backs, the Wildcats had two other Aussie kickers earn accolades: Matt Patton and Max Duffy, who won FBS’s highest award for kickers. : the Ray Guy Award.

“So now, almost every year, I ask Rick, ‘OK, who do you have? Who’s next?’” Hood said, turning the conversation back to Phillips. “That’s why this guy is coming through and according to my guy in Australia, he’s on par with Max Duffy, Jordan Berry and that group of guys I’ve been lucky to have.”

Following form, Hood had an Australian kicker in the last three seasons, Lewis Halton, who performed very well at times. Halton had a career-long 69-yard punt from him in what became the 2020 OVC title game against Jacksonville State at Roy Stewart Stadium during the COVID-19-disrupted spring 2021 season. Later in the fall 2021 season, he tallied 12 punts on the 20th.

He came to Murray from Dodge City Community College in Kansas.

“I started punting in high school and trained with a guy named Nate Chapman, who had a connection to Coach Hood,” Halton said last fall during an appearance on the “Hey Coach” radio show on FROGGY 103.7. He then pointed out that the “punts” he’d been throwing for his high school weren’t the kind you imagine football would be.

“No, it was Australian rules football”, which involves playing with a ball that resembles an American football in shape. That’s where the similarities end. The game is probably best described as a mix of football and rugby union, with no protective pads, although some players wear helmets that amount to what is often seen in amateur wrestling.

“Previous knowledge and skill in (American) football helps with transition and proper training,” he added.