Every time Jack Bouwmeester walks off the training field in the shadows of San Francisco\u2019s Levi Stadium he waits for the tap on the shoulder.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Melbourne punter is so close to realising a dream eight years in the making.<\/p>\n
It has taken him to the practice squad of the storied San Francisco 49ers via successful college stints in Utah and Texas.<\/p>\n
He can sniff an NFL debut as the first Australian to punt in a game on home soil but also knows that MCG clash might be the only chance for his grandparents to watch him live.<\/p>\n
And yet the three-year rookie deal he recently signed means absolutely nothing as he punts for his NFL life in a battle against veteran Corliss Waitman to replace last year\u2019s 49ers punter Thomas Morstead.<\/p>\n
Such is life in the NFL where Bouwmeester is competing in a 91-man training camp ahead of a series of cuts that will see the 49ers whittling their team down to 53 by August 30.<\/p>\n
As a Ray Guy Award semi-finalist as college football\u2019s best punter he has a booming boot and serious potential.<\/p>\n
But the prize if he can secure that single spot as head coach Kyle Shanahan\u2019s punter makes the weeks ahead even more nerve-racking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty crazy, to be honest. Sometimes you still have to pinch yourself that you are still here,\u201d he told CODE Sports a week into training camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was talking to one of the guys today. You can walk off the track and think. \u201cGeez, am I going to get that tap on the shoulder?\u201d It\u2019s been terrifying but it\u2019s been good fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have started to think about (the MCG game) but I don\u2019t want to think about it too much. I would be pretty proud to bring the game to Australia. The NFL has only grown in popularity in the last few years and the fact it has sold out in half an hour is awesome. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t get a better game at the MCG. I have been telling everyone here how good the MCG is. I grew up watching footy there with dad and it\u2019s just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
A generation of Australian punters have followed in the footsteps of former Melbourne player Darren Bennett, who played 78 AFL games with West Coast and the Demons before following an NFL dream.<\/p>\n
Bennett took to the field for a decade at the San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings, but also played an instrumental role in keeping Bouwmeester\u2019s punting career alive.<\/p>\n
He was signed to play college football by Michigan State after a successful try-out but after returning to Australia with homesickness it was Bennett who urged him not to give up on his talents.<\/p>\n
Former Collingwood and North Melbourne star Sav Rocca, another NFL punter, is also a valuable sounding board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did play Aussie rules at Sandhurst in Bendigo and played a couple of games at the (Bendigo) Pioneers and then went down the cricket route with Carlton and started getting injuries so I decided to give punting a go. Kicking was my strength but I definitely wasn\u2019t very good at anything else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe heard it on the radio one day back in 2018 and dad (Martin) said, \u201cYou should give that a go\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMum (Jodie) wasn\u2019t the biggest fan of me heading over but she\u2019s pretty happy now. It wasn\u2019t straight forward. I came here, got homesick, covid happened, I couldn\u2019t come back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Utah gave me the opportunity to come back so I owe them a lot. It\u2019s nice that it worked out this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He shone in three seasons at Utah before a single year at Texas with 14 punts of 50-plus yards and 23 punts downed inside the 20 yard line.<\/p>\n
The name of the game is to pin your opponents as deep as possible in their defence so their starting position is as close to their own end zone as possible.<\/p>\n
There were plenty of moments he will never forget: \u201cProbably at Texas when I was in the locker room at half time eating pretzels with Matthew McConaughey, that\u2019s a pinch-me moment\u201d.<\/p>\n
And yet where an AFL aspirant might have an entire pre-season to shine, in San Francisco the powers that be could cut him or elevate him to the starting punter role at any time.<\/p>\n
He has improved with every training session and will likely be given some reps in the trio of pre-season games before that late August deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty brutal, but that\u2019s why we love it. It\u2019s addictive,\u201d he said of the race to be one of those 53 squad members, of which 48 suit up each week.<\/p>\n
He could still be a practice squad member even if overlooked for the starting role, so there are multiple paths to that Melbourne MCG game.<\/p>\n
While he went undrafted in April, his agent found him a training camp opportunity where there is a genuine vacancy given rival Waitman is no certainty to win the role.<\/p>\n
He has played at six NFL clubs and spent a season replacing injured Australian punter Cameron Johnson in Pittsburgh but Bouwmeester is seen as a genuine NFL talent.<\/p>\n
How brutal is the NFL? <\/p>\n
The fourth-quarter Super Bowl punt of former St Kilda player Arryn Siposs as a Philadelphia Eagle was returned 65 yards by Kansas City\u2019s Kadarius Toney.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a catastrophic punt but it was low and misplaced for the special teams teammates around him trying to defend Toney\u2019s return to the five yard line.<\/p>\n
Kansas City won the Super Bowl, Siposs was waived, and hasn\u2019t played since, admitting on a podcast recently he was still haunted by that single off-target punt.<\/p>\n
Bouwmeester knows how different college is to the NFL world<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was going to be like college but it\u2019s not. Everything moves quicker, there are different motions, different offsets. It\u2019s working with the best athletes in the world and it\u2019s been unreal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What would making this team mean given the prize is a Week 1 punting debut in front of a genuine home crowd which sold out the MCG in 30 minutes?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be awesome. It\u2019s not just mum and dad who have been through this, it\u2019s my grandparents, my auntie and uncle. Everyone has bought in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had some people come over but I think of my grandparents because they can\u2019t get on a plane. It would be awesome to have them see me do what I have trained all these years for. It would be pretty special. I am proud to be Australian and proud to fly the flag for Australia over here. Like Michael Dickson at the Seattle Seahawks and Cam Johnson, Mitch Wishnowsky who was here (and now is at Buffalo).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever happens, happens. You can\u2019t think too far ahead but it would be awesome to sell the game in Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every time Jack Bouwmeester walks off the training field in the shadows of San Francisco\u2019s Levi Stadium 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