'It’s been a real growth period': American life has been good for Tom Hutton, OSU's Australian punter
Scott WrightOklahoman
STILLWATER — Tom Hutton’s first day of Oklahoma State football practice back in 2019 came with a shock.
“People blow the whistle and everyone runs different directions,” Hutton said. “I had no idea what I was doing, so I had to pick someone and follow them around.
“I didn’t know that much about college football, apart from actually playing the sport. I didn’t know we flew to games. I thought we’d just drive to games. Things like that I just didn’t know about.”
Now in his junior year as Oklahoma State’s punter, the 31-year-old Hutton understands a lot more about the sport and the world around it — not to mention the fact that he’s become an invaluable weapon for the ninth-ranked Cowboys, who face No. 5 Notre Dame at noon on Jan. 1 in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
Hutton came to Stillwater in January of 2019, then a 28-year-old Australian who had to Google Oklahoma State just to learn anything about the campus, the program and the community he was soon to be a part of.
Originally from the town of Newborough in Victoria, Australia — in the Latrobe Valley on the southwestern tip of Australia, less than two hours away from Melbourne — Hutton grew up playing Australian rules football.
He got connected with an organization called ProKick Australia, which has become well-known for its ability to find Aussie-rules players and develop their skills to become punters in American football. ProKick serves as the bridge between American colleges and the kickers in their programs, ultimately connecting Hutton with the Cowboys.
Hutton came to Oklahoma State not expecting a future NFL career, but hoping for a unique life experience.
“It’s been everything that I expected and more,” Hutton said. “People get caught up in seeing college football as a stepping stone to the NFL, but for me, that wasn’t what I was looking at at all. It’s an experience in itself, and although you don’t make the big money and all that stuff, it’s the life experiences that I’ll take away from it. That’s what I’m still here for.”
Hutton was engaged to his now-wife, Kelsey, when he received his scholarship offer in 2018.
“We had plans to get married, but we fast-tracked that,” Hutton said. “She planned our wedding in, like, eight weeks. Then we flew over here a few months later. For her to give up everything, obviously she’s had a life-changing experience here, too. There’s been positives and negatives, but she’s come out of it a stronger and better person.
“That’s massive for her to give up everything and come over here for me to chase a dream.”
Life in America has come with difficulties, particularly in the last two years, because of COVID-19 limiting the Huttons’ ability to go back to Australia and visit family.
“I haven’t been able to go back in two years,” Hutton said. “My wife’s been here, hasn’t been able to go back in three years. It’s been a real growth period for me, personally.
“In my first year, I just knew that if I got homesick or something, I was 24 hours away on a flight to go home and I could see my family and all that. It’s become a time when you’re completely locked out. It’s like you’re on another planet. Regardless of what you do, if you can get permits to get back home, you’re still three weeks away from seeing anyone.”
On the field, Hutton has become a weapon for OSU because of his target-punting ability. He can locate punts in a specific location to limit return yardage, and his punting distance has improved each year, up to 42.2 yards per punt this season.
He has only six touchbacks in 66 punts and OSU ranks second nationally in punt return defense, having allowed seven yards on 16 return attempts, an average of 0.4 yards per return.
The biggest change for Hutton on the field has come with his understanding of American football.
“It took him, really, a year to figure out American football,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “His actual kicking fundamentals, he could do that from day one. Then knowing where to kick it on the field, and why to kick it over here, and some of the things we do — he didn’t have any idea why we were doing this.
“Anything we do in life, if we don’t know why we’re doing it or what our destination is, it’s hard to get really good at it. Once he started to get a feel for American football after about a year, he really improved in understanding how to improve his game as a target punter.”
Hutton will spend Christmas with his wife and two dogs in Stillwater, but after the bowl game, they’ll be able to make their first trip back home since COVID arrived.
“I’ll get home for two weeks,” he said. “That’ll be good. Recharge the batteries.”
