[ad_1]
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Hugh Robertson looks more like some professors at the University of Illinois than some of his fellow students. Not to say the 29-year-old Australian has visible wrinkles, but the bushy-bearded Melbourne native clearly has been on a few more trips around the sun than most University of Illinois students.
“People wonder who’s this mature-aged guy answering all the questions in class,” Robertson said. “I always sit in the front, so I’m always one of the best students in the class.”
But that’s not such a bad thing. With age comes increased wisdom and increased perspective — and, boy, does Robertson have that in droves. Unlike many college football players who have been consumed by the game for most of their lives, Robertson has lived almost a full life of experience before playing his first football game.
As an 18-year-old, Robertson considered attending university — how Australians refer to college — and pursuing an engineering degree, but he instead joined the Australian army. After one year in service, he joined the police force in his home state of Victoria, where he spent almost eight years as a police officer, working on transit, city and more small-town beats.
All the while, Robertson continued to play Australian rules football — a sport he said he’s played since he was a toddler — for local clubs before getting swept up in the new Australian phenomenon: American football punting.
ProKick Australia, a kicking and punting school started by Nathan Chapman and John A. Smith, has become one of the biggest specialists factories in the sport, helping produce several Ray Guy award winners and NFL Draft picks. Aussies — who practice a punting motion most of their lives in the popular Australian rules football — are taking over the punting position in America. According to Sporting News, there were 56 Australian punters among 130 FBS programs last fall. Illinois had two of them: Robertson and five-time All-Big Ten honoree Blake Hayes.
Hayes, also a Melbourne native, first met Robertson briefly when he returned home after his sophomore season at Illinois and visited the ProKick facility. Hayes, coming off an All-Big Ten Third Team season and preparing for what would be his 2019 Big Ten Punter of the Year season, was a prime example of what former Australian rules football players could accomplish by honing their American football skills. Hayes remembers briefly talking to Robertson, then a new addition to ProKick, and then Chapman asking whether Robertson’s unique leg twist should be tweaked or not — Hayes replied, “Well, it seems to be working for him.”
Hayes didn’t hear about Robertson again until the next year when then Illinois special teams coach Bob Ligashesky had Hayes sit in on a scouting meeting of Robertson. The two broke down the pros and cons of Robertson’s film. Eventually, Ligashesky offered Robertson a scholarship and the 27-year-old, who is a world traveler, hopped on a plane to America for his latest life adventure — joining a Big Ten football program during a pandemic.
“I was working, working, and this opportunity popped up,” Robertson said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do is play sport at a high level. I’ve always wanted to play sport at a high level. Because of injury and all sorts of reasons back home, it never happened. But now having an opportunity to coming over here, I had to take it. It’s awesome. I love traveling around the world. For me, it’s just another great experience, a great life experience to have. …It was definitely a new experience, but life’s too short not to have those fun experiences like that.”
***Go VIP! Get your first month of VIP access to Illini Inquirer for just $1***
But entering college football as the second-oldest freshman on a 2020 FBS roster — fellow Australian Luke Larsen of ECU was the oldest at 28 — fresh off eight years in the workforce and one in the military, Robertson had a different perspective than many of his freshmen who are almost a decade younger.
“I sort of see it as an opportunity for me,” Robertson said. “We don’t have this opportunity to go to college for a degree and to play sport at such a high level. The amount of money that goes into this thing, I’d never dreamed of this when I was 18 years old. For me, I sort of cherish this a lot. The opportunity is just unbelievable.”
When Robertson arrived at Illinois, Hayes became a significant mentor even though the Illini starter was almost six years younger. Hayes had transitioned from Australia and Australian Rules football three years prior, so he could help Robertson not only with the technical aspects of the game but also the transition to American university life and the structure of the day-to-day grind as a Big Ten football player.
“Honestly, the first part is the mental aspect,” Hayes said. “It’s not about putting, it’s about adjusting and making sure that his school was all good, living arrangements, just making sure he was at meetings on time because it can get very confusing. Everything outside of football because that’s really hard to manage. From a punting standpoint, I was just trying to help with the basics and understanding how I’ve been able to use my Australian skill set to benefit me in college because he has the same skill set.”
***Sign up for our FREE Illini Inquirer daily newsletter***
Hayes said Robertson never acted like someone technically classified in an older generation (Millennial) than all of his teammates (Gen Z). It helped that the Illini specialists group skewed more mature. The three starters — Hayes, kicker James McCourt and long snapper Ethan Tabel — were all seniors by the time Robertson arrived and all stayed for an extra year of eligibility in 2021.
Still, Robertson, an easygoing, jovial guy — he fibbed on his original Illinois website profile that he raced kangaroos in Australia — also brought a mentorship role as someone who’s been through a lot of life experience, like chasing down lawbreakers and going through basic training. Hayes said Robertson wears his emotions on his sleeve in a positive way — whether having a great day or a bad day — and he is always cognizant of teammates’ mental states, which Hayes said is important for such high-pressure, individualized jobs as specialists.
“He obviously has leadership qualities being that old, but he fit in straight away just like any other recruit would,” Hayes said. “I guess the benefit of being that old is that I guess you have a level of maturity that maybe a 17- to 18-year-olds just don’t have yet. He just kind of molded in right away and did really well.
“Even now, I still try to feed off him. He’s been to like every country in the world, and he’s older. He has an extensive background of doing a lot of things. You can learn from everyone, especially a guy like him. There are great life lessons that can be learned but also the kind of bravery of being that age and coming to college, it was somewhat easy for me because I was 18 and it made sense. But he’s kinda going against the norm and just being around that environment with 18- to 23-year-olds, I’m sure it’s difficult, and it’s a great step. But he’s learned a lot through that process, and I’ve learned a lot from him going through that process as well.”
***Sign up for Illini Inquirer text alerts for breaking news to your phone***
After five seasons at Illinois — he used an extra year of eligibility the NCAA offered due to the pandemic — Hayes is now pursuing his NFL dream, working out in Champaign while wrapping up his master’s degree in public health on campus. That means 29-year-old Robertson entering his third year at Illinois has a clear path to the punting job. Though, he still faces competition. Illinois added former Air Force punter Fabrizio Pinton as a walk-on, and California native Josh Leff will join Illinois as a preferred walk-on this summer.
Robertson admits that despite watching games on YouTube before his American arrival that he still isn’t an expert at the sport he plays. Though, of course, two years into a scholarship spot on a Big Ten team learning behind one of the country’s best punters, he’s picked up a thing or two about his craft.
“I can’t say I know too much about offense and defense, but at least I know a little bit about special teams, which is handy to know considering I’m the punter,” he quipped.
Hayes said Robertson actually pushed him to be better because he does a few things better than him, things he’s still working on in his prep for the professional level. He sounds bullish on what Robertson — who has one career punt (in 2020) for 38 yards — can accomplish.
“He’s got really high hang time, which is something I’m working on,” Hayes said. “He’s got a really whippy leg as we would call it. His leg speed’s really quick, where I’m a little bit slower. It’s a quality he naturally has, and being able to compete against that when he came was really good. As a punter, you’ve got to kind of know your strengths and weaknesses and you’ve always got to improve on those. Him having a strength that was one of my weaknesses was great to learn from him.”
“I think he can do a great job. He’s a great punter. I hope he does the best and becomes the best punter in the conference and the country. I definitely think he has the tools to do that and the support around him to do that.”
Robertson has a big boot to fill, but Illinois head coach Bret Bielema isn’t asking him to be Hayes. He just needs Robertson to embrace the moment — one he’s long waited for in sport — and find consistency.
“The thing that I love about him is his demeanor. You can’t really rattle him,” Bielema said. “I think the more consistency he can bring to the punting game would be good. He doesn’t have to be somebody else. He’s got to be him. I think he does a good job of that.”
Robertson saw his time with Hayes as nothing but a blessing. A fellow countryman, even if he were a half-decade younger, provided him a visible path to success in his life’s latest adventure.
“It was honestly awesome,” Robertson said of having Hayes as an example. “He was a great mentor, and he’s been through it for five years, and now he’s on to the next level. Him being here was great mentorship. He taught me the game. Watching him and how he operates with the game and through practice even in [the Smith Center] and how he takes care of himself I learned a lot from him doing that as well. He was fantastic. I hope he does well at the next level. I’m sure he will.
“Being around Blake a lot early on, it was great to have competition like that. It’s something I never really experienced coming to play punter in America. It’s a completely new experience with the competition that’s involved at every level. Every day, there’s always competition. I kind of learned how to deal with that with Blake being around and learned a lot form him. At the end of the day, I’m trying to go out and do my best, and if that best is not good enough, then unfortunately, that’s the way it is. As long as you do your best, you can [hold] your head high.”
Aging is something most people fight against throughout the world. But the gift of a few extra years on this planet is the wisdom and perspective gained through life’s experiences, whether good, bad or indifferent. Robertson thanks to his talent, ambition and adventurousness is living in a slightly younger man’s world. But that year of service to his country and eight years in public service as a police officer seem to have given him just a bit more gratitude in the pursuit of his American football dream.
“When I walked through this facility for the first time, and my best mate came to town, and I showed him through the facility, he was just shocked. He was speechless,” Robertson said. “I think having that and a lot of life experience, I’ve really been able to cherish that more. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I’ll never regret doing this at all.”
[ad_2]
Source link