Punter Rhys Dakin journeys from Down Under to Michigan State football

EAST LANSING – Rhys Dakin loves a good road trip.

Michigan State football’s new punter certainly is on one, and not just with his offseason transfer.

Dakin, a 21-year-old native of Melbourne, Australia, arrives after spending his first two years at Iowa alongside new Spartans special teams coach LeVar Woods. And his journey to his new home comes with the task of replacing Big Ten punter of the year Ryan Eckley and joining the lineage of great MSU legs that includes Greg Montgomery, Ray Stachowicz, Brandon Fields, Mike Sadler and Bryce Baringer.

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“I’ve come to know that a lot of punters here have had success, in Bryce and Ryan,” Dakin said Tuesday, March 24, after the Spartans’ spring practice. “I knew that it was gonna be a completely new program here with the coaching changes and everything. But I know what I was gonna get out of coach Woods. I feel like he coaches me the best, and he knows how to coach me as well. And I know he’s always had success, so I figured I would see that success here.”

The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Dakin earned honorable mention All-Big Ten last season in the media vote, after averaging 43.6 yards per punt for the Hawkeyes. That came after he was named a Football Writers Association of America freshman All-American in 2024, along with second-team All-Big Ten by the media and third team by the coaches, with a 44.1-yard average in 2024.

“Great kid. Diligent worker. Focused guy,” said Woods, who spent the past 18 years at Iowa, his alma mater. “He wants to be great. He came here for a reason. He left his country – think about that. Can you imagine being 20 years old or 19 years old, leaving your home country to a place you don’t even know?”

At MSU, Dakin will need to replace Eckley, who declared for the NFL Draft in December after leading the Big Ten each of the last two seasons (47.9 yards per punt in 2024, 48.5 yards in 2025). Eckley’to rank first in the Big Ten and second in the Football Bowl Subdivision. His predecessor, Baringer, was drafted in the 2023 sixth round by New England after setting the school record with a 49.0-yard average in 2022.

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Dakin’s path to punting was far less linear than the Spartans he follows.

While growing up in Melbourne, he began pursuing his dream of becoming a pro athlete by playing sometimes-vicious Australian Rules Football.

“I quickly figured out that wasn’t gonna pan out how I wanted to,” he admitted.

That led Dakin to start pursuing a different professional path in the trades, learning electrical, plumbing and carpentry. However, his next step would have been to begin an apprenticeship, which he wasn’t ready to do.

Dakin said he was “scrolling on Instagram” when he learned about Prokick Australia, which has become sort of a way station for the influx of punters from Down Under to connect with American college football programs. Dakin joined a league in his home country when he was 18 – “they call it ‘gridiron’ down there,” he added – then his dreams of becoming “a high-level athlete” got a boost on a trip to the United State.

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Dakin’s mother, Leann, was born in Chino Valley, Arizona, and went to Northern Arizona University, and the family would return to visit her parents. On one visit, Dakin worked out for a punting and kicking trainer in his mother’s home state to see if he might be a candidate.

“I did that, and I figured out I had the leg and the talent to pursue that career,” he said. “So I came back to Australia and did a bit more research on American football, and it looked pretty fun. I mean, I always knew it existed. I just never thought I could do it. No one really figures out that they can actually play American football or be a punter until they’re a bit older.

“So I’m glad to have found it. I think it’s what I was destined to do, this is what I’m meant to do in life. So I think it’s worked out pretty well.”

It wasn’t long until his carpentry skills were put aside for working with Woods, who in December 2023 went to Melbourne to recruit Dakin and had his initial meeting with him in a café. Woods went to watch him kick and punt the next day and went to the Dakin home for dinner. The job Iowa had done with former standout and fellow countryman Tory Taylor, the 2024 Ray Guy Award winner and now the punter for the Chicago Bears, sold Dakin on joining Woods the Hawkeyes.

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“He flew out to come and meet my family and meet me, get to know me as a person, rather than just recruit me,” Dakin said. “That says a lot about coach Woods as a person.”

Now in the third year of his American adventure, Dakin said he is still marveling at the differences between colleges here and in Australia. Particularly with the ties of sports to the educational process once he saw what the Big Ten environment was like at Iowa.

“At the end of the day, it’s just 18- to 21-year-old kids, and there’s media and there’s 30 different coaches in different areas,” he said. “In Australia, you’ve only got a few coaches. It’s just not as funded. There’s so much money and everything that goes into sports over here just in college, even though we’re just kids.

“I didn’t realize how massive (college football) is over here and how much goes into every game. It’s like a pro sport in my mind.”

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Away from the game, Dakin said he loves to travel around his new country to learn about it. Since arriving at MSU in January, he has made trips to see his girlfriend in Iowa, and he has driven as far as Kentucky. He loves to play basketball, as well as going hiking, fishing and golfing. All things Dakin said he can’t wait to experience in Michigan once the cold goes away.

“I’ve heard the summers here are beautiful near the lakes and everything,” he said. “I’m gonna try and get out fishing in those lakes, too. I got some cool places to explore.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Punter Rhys Dakin journeys from Australia to Michigan State football