Huskies Hit Reset Button With Punter Luke Dunne

UW Roster Review: The Aussie had a tough season and his position went into competition.

Luke Dunne shows his full punting extension against Ohio State. | Dave Sizer photo

During spring practice, one of the more awkward situations for the University of Washington football team was the punting competition.

Returning starter Luke Dunne showed up to reclaim his job while the Huskies welcomed San Diego State transfer Hunter Green to Montlake presumably to take it from him.

Now no one on Jedd Fisch's team is exempt from having players brought in to challenge them for their starting roles and playing time.

Competition, of course, is the bane of having a championship contender.

The 6-foot-5, 214-pound Dunne, however, had enough missteps as the No. 1 guy in 2025 that the Huskies felt compelled to upgrade the position.

Luke Dunne (45) slaps helmets with UW teammate in spring ball. | Dave Sizer photo

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the UW roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

An Australian who spent two years as Oregon's back-up, Dunne punted 34 times for a respectable 40.1-yard average and he didn't have a kick blocked for the Huskies.

Yet he was so deliberate at times in launching the ball, more teams than not came after him hard trying to swat down his punts.

The downside was he flinched and had no fewer than five shanks, leaving the UW with less desirable field position.

Punter Luke Dunne was the UW starting punter in 2025. | Dan Raley

Green, on the other hand, averaged 47 yards per punt for his Mountain West team and was a second-team all-conference selection.

Comparatively, Dunne has 46 career punts coming at his two schools while Green has 176 at his prior two stops.

A possible upside to this situation is Dunne will have the upcoming season to watch the work of Green, who comes to Montlake with a single year of eligibility remaining, and improve his foot-to-ball time.

Once Green leaves, the Aussie could be in a much better place to become the starter again for his remaining UW season in 2027.

What he's done: Dunne spent two years at Oregon in reserve and was handed the UW No. 1 job last year. In terms of experience, he's still a relatively new American punter. He had just five touchbacks on his punts last season compared to 15 for Green.

Starter or not: Unless he can expedite his launch time on his punts, Dunne will just be a spare part behind Green while possibly retaining his holding responsibilities on place-kicks. It's up to him to how all of this plays out.