Photo | Courtesty of University of South Alabama
When Jack Brooks accepted a scholarship offer to play football at South Alabama, the decision came with more changes and adjustments than those associated with other players making a similar decision.
You see, Brooks was taking a leap of faith, both in himself and in a game of which he had never played, when he signed the grant-in-aid to leave his home in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, to join the Jaguars’ football team and seek the team’s job as its starting punter.
He definitely knew how to kick a football — he had done that most of his life either as a rugby player or, more often, as an Australian Rules Football player. American football, and America itself, especially the Deep South, was all new to him.
He signed up to take part in a program called Pro Kick Australia where attendees train for at least 12 months and learn as much as they can about punting and American football with the hope of getting a football scholarship in the U.S. The plan worked for Brooks when he received an offer from South Alabama.
He also discovered the learning process was just beginning.
“I remember watching the Super Bowl when I was younger, watching Tom Brady and the Patriots,” Brooks, a 6-foot-0, 205-pound sophomore with the Jags, said. “Obviously, with the time difference, we had to record it so I could watch it later. But I always grew up watching a little bit of it and I was always interested in it. The adjustment — there’s so many rules in American football. I’ve tried to learn as many rules as possible and especially from my position of punting, every rule that I can for that. I’m still learning every day with all the boys here, but it’s good fun.”
Brooks said he started playing football in Australia when he was 4 and “I’ve been punting all my life,” though the American style of punting is different, much like the culture and lifestyle he found when he arrived in Mobile.
“I left a full-time job; I’m a qualified landscaper, so I left my job and took a risk in trying to get a scholarship here,” he said. “I never knew if it was going to work out or not, but I wanted to give something else a go. It was a massive step for me. I did have regrets — is it going to work out? — and I was apprehensive moving away; I’m a big family man as well, so I couldn’t see my family as much. But this opportunity, I wouldn’t change it. I’m so happy I made this decision.
“Living in the South obviously was quite a cultural change and the accents here, driving on the opposite side of the road, the food — just all the little things, like different sayings and stuff that people didn’t really know. I’ve embraced it as much as I could and I’ve tried to learn as much as I could here. I’ve enjoyed every single experience here and I’m loving it.”
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Brooks hasn’t been able to return home and he hasn’t seen his family in two years. He said he is hopeful he’ll get the chance to go home during the upcoming Christmas break.
In the meantime, he’s still making adjustments.
“I just like the lifestyle here, practicing every day,” he said. “I get to kick a football around, which I’ve always loved to do. I get to study. I never went to university in Australia, and to get an education here as well and pick up more knowledge, I really like it. I like the practicing every day and punting — I’ll never get tired of punting a football.”
Brooks, a preseason second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection, is averaging 42.5 yards per punt this season, with 12 punts of 50 yards or more and placing 13 punts inside the 20-yard line. This is his third season with the team (thanks to an extra year granted to all NCAA athletes due to COVID). He averaged 42.2 yards per punt as a freshman and 41.7 yards a punt last year. He also is the holder for field goal attempts.
“There’s a real good culture that has come in with Kane [Wommack, Jags head coach] now. I’m really enjoying that,” Brooks said. “For myself, I just want to be as consistent as possible every time I go out and just try to help the boys and pin [opponents] back and help the defense out. I’m just trying to help out the boys as much as possible. I think I’m more comfortable. I’ve had a lot of snaps out on the field now. My first game, that first season, I had never played American football before, so those were my first games. … My first American football game was crazy — 90,000 [fans] at Nebraska. I was pretty nervous. … It was an unreal experience.”
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