Inside The Huskies

Here's How the Huskies Found a New Punter Halfway Around the World

Dusty Zimmer came to the UW through an Australian scouting service, which supplied video tape of him.
Dan Raley|
Jack McCallister and Grady Gross share a pregame moment early in the season.
Jack McCallister and Grady Gross share a pregame moment early in the season. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Not one but two University of Washington punters have felt the need to turn to the transfer portal after learning that Australian import Dusty Zimmer would be entrusted with that Husky special-teams kicking chore going forward, with the newcomer becoming one of 29 players signed on Wednesday to financial agreements.

Three-year No. 1 punter Jack McCallister earlier revealed he will exit Montlake while looking for another landing spot, followed by his back-up Adam Saul, with both currently non-scholarship players at the UW.

McCallister likewise serves as the holder for all of Grady Gross' place-kicks, which could have provided the Huskies with a logistics problem for the coming bowl game that is undetermined. However, UW coach Jedd Fisch said on his coach's radio show this week that any Huskies entering the portal are welcome to stay for the postseason match-up and that McCallister will handle his usual dual responsibilities.

The Huskies are adding a punter from Australia in Dusty Zimmer.
The Huskies are adding a punter from Australia in Dusty Zimmer. | UW Athletics

As for Zimmer, the Huskies found the 6-foot-5, 230-pound kicker through an Australian scouting service that has built a reputation for matching players with American college football programs.

"Australia has kind of become an authority, or at least a bastion of the kicking game," Husky director of player personnel Matt Doherty said. "There are well-established resources to tap into and kind of flesh out names. Generally, or at least at this point, they've put so many guys into this realm of college football their recommendation holds a lot of weight. There's obviously an evaluation on our end."

The service provided the UW with a video workout tape of Zimmer, previously an Australian rules football player for the South Adelaide Football Club who hasn't had any exposure to a American football game.

Doherty, however, said the punter's skills have been highlighted to the point the Huskies have been able to make a ready determination in whether he fits or not.

"It's still a projection, clearly," the UW personnel director said. "But we're still able to see the kind of movements and kicks we could ask of him in any given situation."

Schools all over college football have relied on this service to find players capable of place-kicking or punting, including Texas, which took Sydney's Michael Dickson, who became a second-team All-America punter and was drafted by the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and then became a Pro Bowl player.

"Australia has kind of earned a reputation at this point for producing high-caliber kickers and punters," Doherty said.

For 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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