Sep 21, 2019; Columbia, MO, USA; A detail view of a Missouri Tigers helmet during the second half of the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Missouri has brought in a punter from the transfer portal for the 2023 season. Riley Williams, a native of Australia, announced on Twitter that he had committed to the Tigers.
Williams spent the 2022 season at Towson, where he averaged 44.7 yards a punt, 4th in FCS. He was credited with putting 13 of his 46 punts in 2022 inside the 20-yard line. Prior to coming to the United States, Williams was at Australian Catholic University, where he played Aussie rules football, cricket, and swam for the university.
The Tigers were in search for a punter as freshman Jack Stonehouse entered the transfer portal, eventually landing at Syracuse. He averaged 42.30 yards a punt in 2022. Sean Koetting, a graduate student who was the team’s kickoff specialist, has exhausted his eligibility after 6 seasons with the program, the last 2 spent on kickoff duties.
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I think he can add a couple yards to his average with some experimenting during off season. Plus since he’s Aussie rules so he knows some tactical placement advantages
Seems like Australiian rules practice killing a ball in point potential places?
Awww yeahhh 2023 is comin up all MIZZOU
Aussie, dudes are used to kicking the ball upside down, no wonder it goes a long way.
Towson had to punt a lot with poor field position. You tend to punt longer with a longer field. According to Kickpunt, the average kicker in FBS is 48 yards, which beats his average, which in turn beat's Mizzou's average punt last year. As for putting the punt within the 20, that doesn't tell me much.
Australia has a program dedicated to developing punters for US colleges.
There's a lot of programs in the US for that too.