Gators punter Jeremy Crawshaw is averaging 46.3 yards per punt in his first season as a starter. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
Crawshaw Put In Work Down Under to Grab His Dream
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — To chase this dream of his, Gators punter Jeremy Crawshaw left home at 17 and got a job.
He worked at a place numerous teenagers have called their employer over the years. This one was in Melbourne, Australia, about a nine-hour drive from Crawshaw's home in Emu Plains, a suburb of Sydney and the place where Crawshaw's dream was hatched in 10th grade.
"I had a part-time job as a cook at McDonald's,'' Crawshaw said this week. "It was pretty much working to make ends meet just long enough before I left for America."
When Crawshaw wasn't flipping burgers or dropping fries in the fryer, he was chasing this dream of his. At one time, Crawshaw envisioned playing professional rugby in his native country, but when that began to fizzle, he turned to American football and a college education.
Crawshaw's relationship with the American game formed in an unusual way. As Crawshaw tells it, many students quit high school in Australia after 10th grade to join the country's booming trade culture. They become carpenters, electricians and plumbers, respectable ways to earn a living and always in demand somewhere.
UF punter Jeremy Crawshaw flashed the running skills he developed as a rugby player in Australia in Saturday's win over Vanderbilt. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
As Crawshaw contemplated his future, he discovered Prokick Australia, a kicking academy formed in 2007 in Melbourne to help those interested in American-style football and perhaps, if good enough, a college scholarship. The academy has developed a strong reputation with college coaches over the past 15 years and produced several notable punters, including 2019 Ray Guy Award winner Max Duffy of Kentucky.
"I don't know if I want to stay in school or if I want to go get a trade,'' Crawshaw said of his mindset after 10th grade. "I kind of just happened to stumble across this. I went to the shop to buy a little American football and started kicking it around the park and I love fell in love with the dream. Two years later, I was finally old enough to move down [to Melbourne] and join the program."
While Crawshaw has been getting it done with his right leg – he is averaging 46.3 yards per punt and 10 of his 19 kicks have traveled 50 yards or more – he is a popular storyline entering Saturday's game at LSU because of what he did with both of his legs in last week's homecoming win over Vanderbilt. Crawshaw took off on a fake punt in the second half and raced 28 yards for a first down. The play caught everyone's attention because Crawshaw, a redshirt freshman who signed with the Gators in December 2019, didn't look like a punter running – but rather a running punter.
"I thought he was going to score,'' running back Nay'Quan Wright said. "Honestly, I didn't know he was that fast. He showed me something. We gotta put him on offense, maybe throw him at receiver or something."
Like many Australians, Crawshaw grew up playing rugby. The kicking style is much different than American kicking, but Crawshaw played primarily as a winger and knows an open lane when he sees one.
"I was quick and kind of a thin frame,'' he said. "They used to just chuck me the ball and I used to run around the outside. I guess what you saw on the weekend is a surprise for you guys but definitely not for me."
Crawshaw surfaced on Florida's radar when British-born John Smith, Prokick Australia's kicking coach who had stints in the NFL and CFL in the 1980s, called longtime contact Keith Murphy, who joined the Gators as a quality control coach under Jim McElwain and remained on staff for two seasons after Dan Mullen took over the program. Murphy is now in his second season as special-teams coordinator at Central Michigan.
Smith had pitched other Australian punters over the years to Murphy, most of them older who had played professional rugby and wanted to continue playing while getting an education.
"I never had a head coach that put a stamp on it because you never see them in person,'' Murphy said. "Coach Mullen was more intrigued because he was a high school kid." Jeremy Crawshaw arriving at 'The Swamp' for last week's game. (Photo: Isabella Marley/UAA Communications)
Mullen's interest remained intact after watching film of Crawshaw. He even contemplated the longest recruiting trip in program history. In the end, the Gators relied on what they saw on the video monitor and the strong track record of a foreign kicking academy on the other side of the world.
"I had it set on a recruiting trip to try to go and it didn't work out for me to make it there,'' Mullen said. "So, we watched all the film and we ended up with Jeremy Crawshaw. I'm watching these guys, and they're great punters. And he was a great fit for us personality-wise, too."
The 20-year-old Crawshaw has come a long way since deciding he wanted to be a punter and come to America. He has grown to appreciate another fast-food chain – he crushed as many Chick-fil-A sandwiches as Megan Mullen could pick up on his recruiting visit – and has even stopped by the local Outback for a taste of home, American style.
If his teammates needed time to decipher some of his native slang – Crawshaw might go to the server (gas station) for some petrol (gas) with a bloke (friend) – they understood his ability once they saw him in action.
Crawshaw can kick it.
"He was kicking the ball all over the place Saturday,'' teammate Antonio Valentino said.
"He's a firecracker,'' offensive lineman Stewart Reese said. "That dude is something else."
This isn't the first time a Florida-LSU game at Tiger Stadium featured an Australian punter as one of the headliners. Ten years ago, LSU punter Brad Wing scampered 52 yards for a touchdown and became the first player to be penalized for taunting on a scoring play as a result of a new rule put in place that season.
Crawshaw was 10. He's heard of Wing now, but back then, this dream of his was tucked away somewhere in his future brain.
"I didn't even know what college football was,'' he said.
A decade later, Crawshaw is the latest in a string of Australian punters to make an impact in the game, following in the footsteps of such players as Arryn Siposs (Auburn), Ben Griffiths (Southern California) Ben Lennon (Utah) and Kentucky's Duffy.
His time at Prokick Australia proved a life-changer.
"They put you under pressure. They show you looks, they show you how to punt, most importantly, so that when we get over here, everything kind of just clicks, you know, it's a calm process,'' he said. "It's not being slapped in the face and just freaking out and crumbling."
When the Gators played in Lexington in 2019, Murphy sought out Duffy for his thoughts on Crawshaw the prospect.
What did Duffy tell him?
"He hits tremendous spirals,'' Murphy said.
Check.
Crawshaw's dream has turned into reality, one spiral at a time – oh, and a run here and there.
"The biggest and the baddest are here,'' he said. "I love it. When I play at home with 90,000 at 'The Swamp,' it's goosebumps every time I run out. There's nothing like it."
