Chapter 1: What inspired Billy Gowers to pursue punting at the University of Hawaii?
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.
Thanks, boys. Thanks for having me. Good to see you, Billy.
This is an unbelievable story, mate. Can you believe it? You're pinching yourself.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah, they were pretty ā I'd say they were pretty consistent, which is probably the best thing.
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.
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Chapter 2: How did Billy's experience at the University of Hawaii shape his career?
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.
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?
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.
So did you have other teams outside the Hoosiers then? Were they trying to recruit you as well?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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. Yeah, it's crazy.
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Chapter 3: What are the differences between playing at the University of Hawaii and Indiana?
Yeah, I actually don't know what it is.
How many hours a week do you need to be there in the classroom?
I've got quite a lot of in-person classes as an international student, so I've got four in person. Right.
How many hours a week would that be? Seven, eight. You feel overtaxed with that state? Yeah, I'm a bit tired.
What about the punting landscape in college footy? Because Nathan Chapman's pro kick's done an outstanding job and the Australian infiltration into college footy is immense. They're looking now at rule changing. You'll be in your 30s if you continue on. Yes. So what have you got in at the right time?
Yeah, it seems that way. They're looking at getting a five for five years approval. So straight out of high school, you've only got five years. And if you don't begin university straight away, your time clock, so to speak, starts at 19 years of age. So I would have missed it by almost 10 years.
And tell us about your coach, too, because he's reasonably famous over there in America.
Yeah, he's the biggest story in Indiana, really.
In the States, maybe. What's his name?
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Chapter 4: How has college football changed regarding player compensation?
Yeah. And he pretty much just looked straight down the camera and said, it's simple. I win. Google me. Which is just outrageous behavior. First interview ever. Is he old school? He's so old school. It's crazy. You don't even see him downstairs in the football facility. He's just in his office watching film, they call it, vision, all hours of the day.
How much face-to-face contact would you have had with him?
I've spoken to him once. How did that conversation go? It wasn't flash. Yeah, I wasn't punting that day and he was asking if I'd overkicked.
Oh, really? And so you deal with the special teams?
Yes, yeah, so you sort of deal directly with the head of special teams and then the guys that work under them, yeah.
I remember talking to Darren Brown about it because he was one of the original, and we were fascinated with it because he had a lot of injuries at Melbourne and we didn't see him on the track too much. He was just full forward in play. I said, what's it like? He said, well, I go out and I kick and then I go and eat.
That's basically it. Yeah, it's so different. Like even you feel bad when they're like, oh, you can go. During a main training session, they'll be like, you can go inside and just relax for a bit. I'm like, what do you mean? Go stretch for a bit. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's weird.
Have you been working on any particular kicks? Because I've noticed since the Australians started to get really serious in the punting over there in the NFL, there's a lot of the drop punts that have become vogue and screw punts and the floaters.
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Chapter 5: What was the recruitment process like for Billy Gowers?
Yeah, there's all different types of kicks, I guess. It depends a lot on the wind and which direction it's going. what your scheme is, how your scheme's sort of set up, whether it's traditional sort of professional punting, which is spirals, which is a torpedo, or roll-out drop punts, which is, yeah, kicking a drop punt.
We're not going to ask you, because we're too classy, but what's the highest paid college punter? What's he get?
Oh, I don't know about punters. Probably a few hundred thousand, I reckon. Yeah, maybe four.
Players, though, quarterback. What would a top quarterback be getting paid?
Oh, there'd be guys on 10 mil, U.S., And in the college? Yeah, yeah, in college.
Nice. As we said, your college quarterback went at number one in the recent draft. His name was Fernando Mendoza. Yes. Won the Heisman. What happens to replenish? So you go through undefeated and you lose stacks, obviously. You go off to the NFL or they finish their college team. Have you been able to reload?
Yes. Yeah, we've got a hell of a lot of guys similar to me in the transfer portal. So, you know, they sort of pinpoint their guys and bring everyone in. So we've got a new quarterback, Josh Hoover. He's come from TCU.
Right. Dan, in terms of the, how many is on the squad? 110. 110. So we know, and you know from your footy days here, at least a 40, whatever, you're mates with everyone, you know everyone. What sort of contact do you have with the whole group?
Oh, it varies a bit. Like we train as specialists. We train with the O and D linemen because specialists traditionally are terrible athletes. So we sort of train with them and then, yeah, there's still guys that I'll bump into during the week that I've never seen before. Yeah, that's incredible, isn't it? And getting treatment or whatever it is and don't really introduce myself, but I want to.
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