Inside The Huskies

Huskies Find Another Australian Punter -- In Eugene, of All Places

Luke Dunne commits to the UW after two seasons as a back-up for the Ducks.

Dan Raley

Oregon kicker Atticus Sappington, left, celebrates a field goal with his holder Luke Dunne, also a Ducks punter, in 2024.
Oregon kicker Atticus Sappington, left, celebrates a field goal with his holder Luke Dunne, also a Ducks punter, in 2024. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It doesn't quite have the drama of flipping one of Oregon's top 2026 recruits, but the University of Washington football team dug into the Ducks' talent pool for the second time in two days and on Friday came away with a punter in Luke Dunne.

Another Australian rules footballer, no less.

For the Huskies' sake, here's hoping they get this one to hang around Montlake a little longer than their first punting import from that country.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Dunne from Benalla, Australia, spent the past two seasons as the back-up punter for Oregon while handling kick-holder responsibilities. As a redshirt initially, he has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

He counts a dozen punts to his name at the college level, nine for a 42.6-yard average last season and three at a 40.6 clip in 2023.

While he's been in uniform four times for Oregon-UW games over the past two years, the Huskies have never seen him punt live.

In fact, Oregon was so dominant last November in the Ducks' 49-21 beating of the UW in Eugene, it punted just once all game, with starter Ross James launching a 63-yarder.

The need for Dunne arose when his fellow countryman Dusty Zimmer signed with the Huskies out of the ProKick Australia organization that places kickers with American college football programs, traveled to Seattle for spring football and turned around and went home without practicing.

While his time on the field was limited with the Ducks, Dunne kicked four times against Ohio State in this past season's CFP quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl, averaging 42.7 yards per boot, so he's been on a big state.

The year before, Dunne punted once in the Fiesta Bowl against Liberty and came up with a 45-yarder.

Dunne has a career-best 51-yard punt against Purdue on the road, coming last October.

On Thursday, the Huskies flipped 5-star offensive lineman Kodi Greene, an Oregon commit, and now they have the Ducks' second punter in hand. Or foot.

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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