Football: Aussie punter Coutts is having a ball

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Sept. 8, 2016

He walks around with a football in his hand almost everywhere at school, like Linus clutching his blanket.

In a sense, the ball is Steven Coutts’ baby.

Until, that is, the sophomore from Australia lines up for the Ragin’ Cajuns and boots it 40- or 50-some yards.

Then, it’s apparent the pigskin merely is a tool of Coutts’ trade — and UL’s punter from Down Under is willing to do whatever it takes to be proficient at his work.

Even if it means being on the receiving end of a few double-takes as he continually practices releasing the ball from his hands to his foot while going from class to class.

“Through high school I used to carry (a ball) and kick it around at lunchtime with my friends … so I just got used to it,” Coutts said.

“Over here,” he added, “your drop is so important for punting, so it’s always good to get a few drops in when I’m walking around.”

The biggest difference from there to here is that in Australia Coutts was handling an Aussie rules-style football, and now it’s the real-deal American version.

To appreciate where he is now, fresh off an impressive freshman season during his first-ever year playing the game and a showing last Saturday in which he was one of the few bright spots in UL’s season-opening 45-10 loss to Boise State, it’s worth backing up.

Coutts played a bit of rugby, cricket, squash and volleyball but mostly a whole lot of Aussie-rules football back home in Australia, where the Brisbane native attended high school at Citipointe Christian College.

The amount of U.S. football he followed back then amounted to an annual viewing of the Super Bowl, so he really had little idea what he was getting into before stepping onto the field and into his first American game at Kentucky to start UL’s 2015 season.

“No one really follows it in Australia,” Coutts said.

So he stuck to Aussie rules, a modified form of the American game in which there are 18 players to a side, shoulder pads and helmets aren’t worn and the primary way to score is kicking the ball through tall goal posts at either end of an oval field.

That ended, though, shortly after a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) spoiled his senior season in high school, necessitating surgery that left a nasty and still-quite visible scar on his left, plant knee.

He couldn’t run for a year.

“That was kind of how I got into this,” said Coutts, who also lettered in track and cross country in high school.

In Australia, Coutts explained, college isn’t an avenue to a pro-playing career like it is for top American football players.

“The college system back home — it’s kind of separated from sport,” he said. “You either play professional, or you go to college.

“Over here,” added Coutts, who now has NFL aspirations, “you can kind of do both, and it’s a good mix.”

Play sports and receive a free education to do it. Prepare for a possible pro career. Socialize, too.

“It’s pretty hard to get scholarships in Australia,” Coutts said.

Why not come to America?

Coutts explored options for getting here, but initially it was more with school in mind.

“First, I decided I wanted to go and study in the U.S.,” he said, “and then I figured out with my Aussie-rules background this was probably the best way to do it.”

Hello, Google.

“I looked online, found Prokick Australia,” Coutts said.

“At first my parents and I were kind of skeptical, but the guys that have come over have been really successful and the guys that have joined that program, Prokick Australia — nearly everyone gets a ride.

“That,” he added, “kind of made me realize it was the right decision.”

Prokick has produced a boatload of former and current college punters and some NFL punters, too, including Chris Bryan, who played for Tampa Bay in 2010, and Jordan Berry, currently with Pittsburgh.

Coutts worked there with Nathan Chapman, a former Australian Football League (AFL) Aussie rules player who played in a few NFL preseason games, and John Smith, a British-born kicker.

“They kind of taught me the basics,” Coutts said. “I made some film one day, sent it (to the Cajuns), and they pretty much said I could come over.”

Coutts was planning to visit American colleges anyway, including UCLA and San Diego State, so he added UL to the itinerary.

“We talked him into making this part of his tour of universities … and talked him into being a Ragin’ Cajun,” UL coach Mark Hudspeth said.

It wasn’t too hard.

Though the two never met, UL’s punter prior to Coutts, Daniel Cadona, also arrived straight from Australia.

“The rest of the team had already dealt with an Australian before,” Coutts said, “so that kind of made things a bit easier.”

Not that everything associated with punting on the FBS level is cake.

“Physically, I think it’s a lot easier,” Coutts said. “Australian Rules, you have to run a lot. You kind of have to be able to do everything.

“Over here, my job’s really specific. So the training, and kicking a ball, is not that physically demanding.

“But the mental aspect of it is a lot more challenging , I think — just dealing with the nerves and the pressure of the situation,” he added. “It’s something I’m still working on, and it’s always going to be challenging for any punter, I think.”

Coutts had only one punt blocked last season, a source of both much pride and much motivation.

“I have to work on my get-off,” he said. “I think it’s a lot quicker now.”

Coutts averaged 42.4 yards per punt in 2015, third-best among all NCAA Division I freshmen and enough to help win Sun Belt Conference All-Newcomer Team honors.

He had 22 land inside the 20-yard line last year, and 14 of his 59 punts went 50 or more yards, including a booming season-long 64-yarder at Arkansas State.

For Coutts, though, having a ball downed inside the 5 is much more satisfying than getting hold of a long one.

“Just because you know the team is in a good position,” he said, “and it usually involves some of the other players, so it’s good you can all celebrate it as a special-teams unit.” 

Against Boise State on Saturday, Coutts averaged 45.2 yards on six punts with a long of 54 and placed two inside the 20, including one at the 4.

“Boy, he had a great game, didn’t he?” Hudspeth said afterward. “Boy, he can be a weapon.

“If we can make teams go 96,” Hudspeth added, “then we should be able to stop teams.”

Hudspeth is a huge fan of Coutts’ work ethic.

“There is no one, and I repeat there is no one, who works harder than Steven Coutts,” he said during preseason camp. “And that is a statement you can put in a box. I’m not afraid to say that.

“So his work ethic along with his strength and his ability — I think, before it’s over, he’s gonna be a very special player.

“Those kids from Australia — there’s something about ’em, in the way they train them down there and prepare ’em,” Hudspeth added. “He’s an extremely focused individual.”

Hudspeth loves his punter’s toughness, too.

“A lot of times kickers get stereotyped as maybe not being the toughest kids in the world,” the Cajun coach said, “but our two kickers are with (placekicker Stevie Artigue) and (Coutts).”

Off the field, however, becoming an American college football player was no easy chore either.

“Coming over here, I did not know anyone at all, so I had to meet all new friends,” Coutts said. “Everyone was friendly, but that always is gonna be hard when you go to a new place.”

But, Coutts added, “I felt a part of the team pretty much as soon as I got there, so it wasn’t too bad.”

Now that he is a part of things, Coutts doesn’t plan to go anywhere else anytime soon.

He envisions a full four-year career at UL, and — although he’s still sorting out undergraduate-degree options — he could wind up with a master’s degree or even two before he’s done.

In fact, Hudspeth said Coutts took 24 credit hours last spring, has 21 this semester and is on track to graduate in two-and-a-half years.

After that? Who knows?

“That’s a goal,” Coutts said of the NFL. “Obviously I’m gonna keep working hard, try to have a good season.

“That’s a really hard job. NFL punters, they get cut and traded all the time. So I’m just gonna do my best and see how good I can get.”

For now, though, American college life suits the Aussie just fine. Actually, he’s having a ball.

And when a teammate or two walk past Coutts between classes, they might just get a touch, too.

“I’ll see them on campus,” Coutts said, “and I’ll just kick it to them or throw them the rock. That’s good times.”

“Just because you know the team is in a good position,” he said, “and it usually involves some of the other players, so it’s good you can all celebrate it as a special-teams unit.”