Published May 27, 2025
Report: Nebraska close to adding Australian punter Archie Wilson
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Steve Marik  •  InsideNebraska
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The Nebraska football program may be close to announcing its new punter.

Late Tuesday night, HuskerOnline reported Australian rugby style punter Archie Wilson was scheduled for an official visit this weekend.

Wilson's name currently appears in UNL's student directory. Head coach Matt Rhule said the team's summer session would begin June 2.

In April during spring ball, Nebraska punter Jack McCallister announced he was entering the transfer portal again after arriving in January from his previous school, Washington. Rhule said newly-hired special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler was shifting the punt team philosophy from a traditional style to a rugby style, which Ekeler had success with at Tennessee.

Ekeler enjoyed strong play from punter Jackson Ross at Tennessee the past two seasons. Ross is an Australian who trained at Prokick Australia, an organization that's become a pipeline for Australian football rules athletes to become American football punters.

“We obviously have some things in the works – some Plan A, Plan B type guys," Rhule said of McCallister's replacement in April.

McCallister is a traditional-style punter, and he's since transferred to Purdue. Wilson will join the other punter currently left on Nebraska's roster, redshirt freshman Kamdyn Koch.

Rhule said he believes rugby style punting is what will fit the Huskers best.

"When you look back to last year," Rhule said in April, "especially as we've talked about with the winds here, especially if you talk about the different unique situations that are here to us, a rugby-style kick takes advantage of the rules, takes advantage of our unique game day atmosphere here in the weather. Schematically, it's a no-brainer, and we'll just have to bring the right guy in.”

In college football punt rules, players are allowed to cross the line of scrimmage and head down the field at the snap, so having a punter who can kick on the move with good hang time allows the coverage more time to get down the field.