By DARREN MILLER
hawkeyesports.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa —Here are things you might not know about University of Iowa freshman punter Tory Taylor:
He has a twin brother. He can kick with both his right foot and left foot. He likes steak and he likes it topped with ketchup. His first experience with American football was when Iowa played at Purdue on Oct. 24.
Here are things you probably know about Taylor: He is from Melbourne, Australia, at 23-years-old, he is a bit more mature — and gnarly — than a typical true freshman, and after just two games, he has proven to be a weapon when it comes to flipping field position.
Taylor is the latest in a wave of Australian punters who have taken the sport by storm.
“It’s the different tools and tricks we have,” Taylor said. “Here you grow up throwing a baseball or football, whereas back home we grow up kicking a football. I have been kicking an Australian Rules football essentially since I came out of the womb.”
“I took a moment and thought, oh wow, this is it. I have kind of made it. I’m trying to make my family and friends really proud of me.”
Tory Taylor, Iowa punter
It has been a seamless transition to kicking an American ball. After two games, Taylor is second in the Big Ten with a 46.1 yard average on 10 punts. Five of his punts have gone 50 or more yards, five have been downed inside the opponents’ 20, and five have been fair-caught.
One of the biggest variables Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and staff faced entering the 2020 season was who would replace punter Michael Sleep-Dalton (another Australian). In 2019, Sleep-Dalton averaged 41.7 yards on 58 punts.
No wucka’s, coach.
“Having a good punter is a real luxury, it’s almost a lost art anymore and it can impact a football game,” Ferentz said. “You look at our best wins over the last 20-plus years and usually the punting game factored in there. It is a key.”
The Hawkeye coaches didn’t know what to expect when the season opened three weeks ago. Initial reaction on Taylor is so far, so good. In Australian lingo, he has had a couple real ripsnorters.
Taylor was especially effective Oct. 31 against Northwestern when wind gusts topped 20 miles per hour. His first punt traveled 50 yards and was fumbled at the 15 by Northwestern’s Kyric McGowan. His second went 58 yards and went out-of-bounds at the 10. His third went 48 yards and was fair-caught at the 20. Taylor’s fourth and final punt was a beautiful position punt into the wind with excellent hang time that went 40 yards and fair-caught at the Wildcat 14.
The Hawkeye coaches didn’t know what to expect when the season opened three weeks ago. Initial reaction on Taylor is so far, so good. In Australian lingo, he has had a couple real ripsnorters.
Taylor was especially effective Oct. 31 against Northwestern when wind gusts topped 20 miles per hour. His first punt traveled 50 yards and was fumbled at the 15 by Northwestern’s Kyric McGowan. His second went 58 yards and went out-of-bounds at the 10. His third went 48 yards and was fair-caught at the 20. Taylor’s fourth and final punt was a beautiful position punt into the wind with excellent hang time that went 40 yards and fair-caught at the Wildcat 14.
“I only worry about what I can control,” Taylor said. “When I got out there (against Northwestern), I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a little windier than I thought.’”
If not for the University of Iowa, Taylor said he would be working somewhere in Australia. He feels fortunate that Iowa special team’s coach LeVar Woods made a recruiting trip to Melbourne in January.
“What do I have to lose?” Taylor said. “It’s a great opportunity.”
The meeting with Woods calmed Taylor’s nerves…and removed any uneasiness his parents, Tanya and Stuart, might have had sending a son 10,000 miles from home to become a student-athlete. That’s more than a casual walkabout.
In his first experience with American college football Oct. 24 at Purdue, Taylor punted six times for an average of 44.2 yards. After the game, and before boarding a bus to the airport in West Lafayette, Indiana, Taylor paused to reflect.
“I took a moment and thought, oh wow, this is it. I have kind of made it,” Taylor said. “I’m trying to make my family and friends really proud of me.”
