Aussie punter Keelan Crimmins didn’t pack Vegemite but brought big leg from Mississippi State
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No, Keelan Crimmins hasn’t boxed a kangaroo or wrestled a crocodile. Big spiders? The new punter Purdue shrugs his shoulders. These are the questions Australians often deal with when they come to the United States.
Thanks, Hollywood and TikTok.
“I was from Melbourne, so I was from the city,” he said. “I probably saw a snake maybe once or twice. It’s a fairly big myth. All this TikTok sort of stuff puts it out of proportion.”
Crimmins is no curiosity for your amusement. (No, he has no Vegemite in his apartment, so don’t even ask.) He’s here to do a job after transferring from Mississippi State: Punt.
Crimmins’ arrival continues a new trend at Purdue–and elsewhere–of having Aussies punt. The previous three seasons, the Boilermakers used Aussie Jack Ansell. The move toward punters from Down Under is not waning. Of the 14 teams in the Big Ten in 2023, eight had Australian punters on their rosters, and a ninth listed a punter from New Zealand.
“Everyone sort of knows of everyone. If you see someone, if you’re playing against someone, you’ll go say “G’day” before the game and after the game get a handshake,” said Crimmins. “There is a family in a way. When we go back home, you’ll meet them when we go to practice … have a chat.”
The place to shop for Aussie punters is Prokick Australia, established in 2007. It bills itself as “a premier institution dedicated to the training, mentorship, and successful transition of Australian athletes into the collegiate and professional ranks of American football, particularly within the College/NFL sphere.”
“Those kids grow up playing Australian Rules football,” said Purdue special teams coordinator Chris Petrilli. “They get used to running around and kicking it. If you look at the last top punters in the country the last 10 years, many of them are from that background.
“They’re a little bit older. They have that background, especially if they are from that Prokick world. I have a tight relationship with those guys. I know they’re well-coached. I know that they coach them very, very hard. Great bunch of dudes.”
That’s where it all began for the 23-year-old Crimmins, who also played cricket growing up.
“I’ve got a relationship with his coaches back in Australia,” said Petrilli. “This room is different. It’s a competitive room. He’s a super serious dude. Cares about his training. Ro (strength coach Kiero Small) loves him in the weight room. That should say something about him. He’s got a lot of clubs in his bag with that kick of his. And he’s self-motivated. I can coach him really, really hard. He matches my intensity. He matches my intensity to detail. Good leader in the room. Just a great kid.”
How will Petrilli deploy the 6-3, 223-pound Crimmins, who has two years of eligibility?
“Last year (at Mississippi State), predominately rugby or Aussie rules, sorta roll out and sorta punt,” said Crimmins. “This year, I think we’ll sorta mix it up, we’ll go traditional, roll out. We’ll do a few different punts. We’ll be a bit of everything. They’re asking me to practice a bit of everything and hope that’s what I’ll do on game day.”
Crimmins began his career at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, before matriculating to Mississippi State.
“That was the first place I landed when I came from Australia was Starkville, Miss.,” Crimmins said. “And that was a fairly big shock. I had a few things said to me. Indiana is completely different than Mississippi … you’ve got big cities only two hours up the road. The ‘Sip is completely different.”
Crimmins appeared in 12 games in 2023 for the Bulldogs, punting 49 times with a 40.9-yard average that ranked No. 8 in the SEC. Only nine of his punts were returned, and 13 of his punts were inside the 20-yard line.
“Down in the ‘Sip, it was pretty different,” he said. “Some people didn’t actually believe I was really from Australia. When mates would come over and visited me, people didn’t know where Australia was. So, they were shocked, as well. They always asked the questions about spiders and all that sort of stuff.”
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