This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Frankly, Jay Hill told Australian punting coach Nathan Chapman, he wasn't sold.
He'd seen the film of Chapman's Australian rules football converts, who at the time included current Ute Tom Hackett, but he didn't know if their 50-yard kicks could be believed.
Who was to say the balls met regulation? Fold-up boards that supposedly marked every 10 yards might only be spaced 8 1/2 yards apart, and either way, there was no opponent.
Hill needed to see it for himself.
Thus it was that after being challenged by Kyle Whittingham to think outside the box, Utah's special teams coordinator found himself asking his boss if he could think outside the hemisphere.
"Coach, this sounds crazy, but this spring, I want to go to Australia and meet with this guy," Hill said.
Whittingham — after a "Why?" or two — gave the OK.
And that trip made all the difference.
At one point, Chapman took Hill for a stroll through a local park, where 100-odd children kicked around Australian rules footballs like American kids play catch.
"They weren't really great at the American-style kick, but the other stuff they could do was unbelievable," Hill said.
Due to recruiting rules and timing, he wound up having to take Chapman's word for it that Hackett was the Aussie for him.
In less than three years since, Hackett has earned a scholarship and become one of Utah's most valuable players — and Hill has parlayed his special teams success into a head coaching job with Weber State.
Oi, Oi and Oi. Chapman would have you believe that he's got more where that came from.
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Footing the bill • Hackett was once one of those kids in the park.
The son of an Australian rules footballer who briefly played professionally, Hackett kicked from the time he could walk.
He led his prep team in goals — which are essentially punted through uprights — at Melbourne's Scotch College, but while he was a better "kick" than his old man, he was small (5-foot-11) for an Australian rules forward, and not particularly fond of running.
In the preseason, as more determined players prepared to run up to 15 miles per game, Hackett would head to the beach, "maybe have one too many beers, and just have fun with my friends."
When he saw on the 6 p.m. news one night that an Australian Football League luminary might train for the American game with an outfit called ProKick Australia, he thought that looked like a good deal. Kick the ball, do nothing else, and be compensated.
So Hackett told his dad over dinner that he was going to be a college football player.
"My mind said, 'That's kinda crazy,' but my mouth said, 'Well, how are you going to make that work?'" said David Hackett.
Enter Chapman.
Chapman once had the same ambition, but not the same support structure. After his AFL career ended, he earned a preseason contract with the Green Bay Packers but was released. He then founded ProKick, he says, to help others avoid his fate.
Hackett tried out. Chapman wants to see players kick the ball 45 yards with 4.5 seconds of hang time, and "First session, it was more like 50 yards, 3 seconds," Hackett said. He was dejected. The Australian rules football, or "footy," is rounder and softer, while the sweet spot on an American football is roughly the size of a dime. He'd shanked them everywhere.
But to Hackett's surprise, Chapman believed he had the requisite power in his leg, and Hackett returned home to share the news: He was good enough.
Also: He needed a few thousand dollars.
"So I thought, 'I'd better meet this guy,'" David Hackett said.
Chapman told the elder Hackett that he only took on players who he felt could earn college scholarships, and that Tom was one such player.
Months later, after a back-to-basics tutorial that unwound a lifetime of muscle memory, Hackett could boom the soaring spiral kicks that the NFL and, until recently, college teams were looking for.
Sure enough, Hill came calling. Hackett rushed a visa and said his goodbyes, and a week later was aboard a plane to the United States to report for summer conditioning.
—
Aussie, Aussies everywhere • The original was Darren Bennett. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound AFL star talked his way into a tryout with the San Diego Chargers and played 11 years, making the Pro Bowl. Later, compatriot Mat McBriar became a two-time Pro Bowler with the Dallas Cowboys.
Thanks in large part to ProKick, what started with a trickle is now a full-on gush.
ProKick alums include last year's Ray Guy winner as college football's top punter, Memphis' Tom Hornsey, and Week Two Ray Guy Punter of the Week Will Gleeson, from Ole Miss. All told, Chapman estimates he has 30 ProKick products punting in the U.S.
"It's been sort of several years of breaking down the barriers with coaches to show that these guys can perform," he said.
It's not the case, Hill cautioned, that ProKick proves a run-of-the-mill Australian can outkick any American.
Hackett has a gift, but the best punter Hill has ever seen remains California-born Jacksonville punter Brian Anger.
However, Aussies are especially adept at the precisely bouncing end-over-end kick, called a drop punt, in which the ball rotates backward after it is struck on its bottom point near to the ground.
Hill noticed that teams without capable punters were essentially kicking duds away from Utah's punt returners, and the result sometimes went 50 yards.
Utah had tried a similar approach with do-everything safety Eric Weddle, but "it was kind of a flop," Hill said.
"I'm going to find some guy who can do it for real," he thought, and that led him to Chapman.
Ironically, Chapman's domain is the spiral — or torpedo punt, in Aussie rules parlance — and not the "Aussie-style" drop punt.
"That's just something we've grown up knowing how to do," he said.
He believes the kick's newfound popularity is largely due to the influx of Australian punters, whom American coaches are finding capable of kicking in traffic, kicking with both feet, and, if for some reason it were necessary, bending the ball left and right.
Hackett has awed fans with his ability to land the ball inside the 10 and have it bounce back softly into the hands of his coverage team, but Chapman said that for Australians, "inside the 20" is a farce.
"We basically tell our guys to put it on the 2."
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Learning to Hackett • When most Australian punters get to America, "they don't know what a first down is," Hill said. "They don't know the game. All they know is this is going to pay for their school."
Hackett had watched American football, knowing that he'd be playing it someday, but found it a bore.
"I'd get maybe a quarter through and turn it off because I didn't know what I was watching," he said.
So he was surprised when, as a true freshman, Hill didn't redshirt him.
Splitting duties with Sean Sellwood, Hackett's speciality became pinning a team near the goal line. In his first appearance, against BYU, all three of his punts were downed inside the 10, and for that — to his father's astonishment — he was named Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week.
"It did seem kind of bizarre that his job might just be to come on three times a game, kick the ball and come off," said David Hackett.
He's not quite as lazy as he thinks he is, though. Both Hill and Chapman said that what distinguishes Hackett is an unceasing competitive fire.
"He's worked his butt off the last three years, and he's got basically every kick in the bag," Hill said.
More kicks, and fewer questions. Those he does have, he asks his roommate, Travis Wilson, and other lessons he learns the hard way.
Last year, as Oregon's Bralon Addison came bounding toward him, Hackett squared him up and wrapped two arms around the Ducks' speedster. He was roadkill.
"All of the linebackers gave me hell for it," said the rosy-cheeked Hackett with his characteristic sheepishness. "They said to just take out the knees. So, touch wood it doesn't happen again, but if it does have to happen, then I'm going to just put this helmet of mine into their knee and hopefully they go down."
In a memorable media guide note, Hackett's bio still reads "family does not understand American football."
Slowly but surely, that's changing.
David Hackett is en route to watch his son against Michigan, Washington State and UCLA, and to see his investment pay off.
"It's a bit of a fairy-tale story," he said. "Sometimes it's a little bit stranger than fiction."
And ProKick continues to show dividends for Hill, who again called Chapman when he first arrived at Weber.
"He said, 'I need another Tom,'" Chapman said.
He got Blake O'Neill, who Hill said has a bigger leg than Hackett but less accuracy at this early stage. Both are happy-go-lucky, up-for-anything types. Both are beloved by college girls for their accents.
Asked if Utah will go back to the well, Whittingham said Tuesday that with Hackett, they don't have to worry about it for a couple of years.
But they may, he said.
Chapman's advice?
"You'd think they should."
mpiper@sltrib.comTwitter: @matthew_piper —
Tom Hackett file
Measurables • 5-11, 187 pounds
Hometown • Melbourne, Australia (also spent ages 6-12 living in Tokyo)
At Utah • Led Pac-12 in 2013 in punt yards (3,300), average (43.4), punts inside the 20 (27, tie), 50-plus punts (19) and longest punt (70). This season leads the nation in punting average at 51.1. Was named Ray Guy Punter of the Week in Week Two against Fresno State.
Outtakes • Can also kick field goals — "Inside 40, I could do it," he said. "Maybe 50 would mentally screw me up a little bit. But I'll leave that to [placekicker Andy Phillips]." ... American football is his fourth-favorite sport to view, behind Australian rules football, soccer and cricket. ... Last December beat Australian Football League star full back Scott Thompson, of North Melbourne, in a dual-sport kicking contest at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Watch it at sltrib.com. Hackett: "I was wearing cleats, he was in running shoes — that's the word I've been getting from the North Melbourne camp." —
Utah at Michigan
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