Billy Gowers, Indianna Punter IN STUDIO (30.04.26)

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SEN Breakfast 12 min 4 speakers 5 chapters transcribed 4 months ago

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What inspired Billy Gowers to pursue punting at the University of Hawaii?

Tim 0:00

Tim and I have just become card-carrying, signed-up members of the Indiana Hoosiers, and that is because our man, Billy Gowers, who we farewelled as he wandered off to the University of Hawaii to take up this new career as a punter, and he spent just the one season there, and he's gone bang to the biggest team in the country. Billy, welcome.

Billy Gowers 0:20

Thanks, boys. Thanks for having me. Good to see you, Billy.

Tim 0:22

This is an unbelievable story, mate. Can you believe it? You're pinching yourself.

Billy Gowers 0:26

I'm probably sort of living in the moment a bit, but yeah, if you look back, it probably seems a bit unrealistic, I reckon.

Tim 0:31

So you had the one year at the University of Hawaii having been recruited at age 28? Yep. And that obviously, just talk us through that year. That obviously went well.

Billy Gowers 0:42

Yeah, it went really well. I was sort of thrown in the deep end a bit. I probably rocked up about three or four weeks before the season started and, yeah, it was sort of just getting used to being in Hawaii, I guess. And then, yeah, we had a really successful year. We ended up winning a bowl game and, yeah, it was great.

Tim 0:59

And your punting numbers were off the charts and you don't need to be modest here because our audience want to know exactly what happened. So your numbers were pretty impressive.

Billy Gowers 1:07

Yeah, they were pretty – I'd say they were pretty consistent, which is probably the best thing.

Tim 1:11

And now you've lobbed at the University of Indiana who, you know, for those that don't follow this, college football is nearly as big as the NFL. And Indiana went through the whole season undefeated and won the national game against Miami, I think it was, in the end. Yes, yep. Quarterback was the Heisman Trophy winner. He's just been drafted as the number one pick in the NFL draft. So this is – and your team, your new team now, were undefeated through the year. Yeah. Tell me the difference between the University of Hawaii and the University of Indiana.

Billy Gowers 1:39

Yeah, there's a fair few differences. I suppose just the severity of how Big Ten football is.

How did Billy's experience at the University of Hawaii shape his career?

Billy Gowers 1:45

So the conference that we're in is Big Ten, whereas Hawaii was Mountain West. Just the crowds you play in front of, like, it's 100, 110 for some weeks. So it's big. It's AFL Grand Final and some most weeks for some of these schools. So just how big and, you know, it's like a religion to them. So it's crazy. Crazy.

Gary 2:05

Yeah. So the rules have changed over there as well. So once upon a time, everybody that played in the college system didn't get paid. They're all amateurs. Now you can be recruited. Now you can be paid. Yes. So do you then have to have an agent too?

Billy Gowers 2:18

Yeah. Yeah. I've got an agent. But yeah, majority of the, you know, there's kids at 15, 14 years of age that have agents over there that- They go to all the big colleges and walk through the facilities and they'll verbally commit to one school and then two days later commit somewhere else. So there's a lot of moving parts, that's for sure.

Gary 2:40

So did you have other teams outside the Hoosiers then? Were they trying to recruit you as well?

Billy Gowers 2:44

Yeah, I did. Yeah, there was a few, but it was sort of just depending on... I sort of narrowed it down to only a couple in the end.

Gary 2:51

Right. So was it... I don't need to know how much money, but was it about money or was it about the opportunity of where you were going to go?

Billy Gowers 2:58

No, it definitely wasn't about money. It was more about like... eyes on the game, scouts, recruits. So Indiana Hoosiers have just had eight nationally drafted, which is unbelievable. And yeah, we've got an incredible coach and just sort of the atmosphere and yeah, playing in front of the crowds.

Tim 3:20

The perspective, we've got to understand that there'll be a lot of listeners that do. It's like... As I understand it, the university-wide is big and we were excited for you there, but it's like going from a really good country team and stepping into Collingwood at their peak. That's the sort of thing we're talking about.

Billy Gowers 3:39

Definitely, yeah. It's just a completely different feel. Even walking through, not even the football facilities, but the actual school itself is just so much bigger.