International man of mystery

Right now, Jonny Mullings wakes up in Canberra, Australia, and works at his job as a personal trainer.

In 2006, he lived in Ottumwa, where he spent a year as an exchange student and showed off a leg that boomed an 83-yard punt in a JV game and a 100-yarder in practice. After Ottumwa, he spent six months living in France working as a ski instructor.

But let's focus on Ottumwa, easily the least sexy of the three locales. This is where Mullings first touched a football and where he first blipped on the football recruiting radar for the University of Iowa.

Last October, Mullings, a 6-foot-4, 202-pound 22-year-old, accepted a grayshirt offer. Two weeks ago, he said he would be in competition for the kickoff job next fall but wouldn't go on scholarship until January 2011.

This week, Iowa coaches informed him learned his scholarship will begin this fall.

In an e-mail Tuesday, Mullings said he'll arrive in Iowa in mid-June, giving the Hawkeyes four kickers/punters on scholarship.

Mullings grew up in Bristol, England, moved to Australia after high school, was a foreign exchange student in Ottumwa, a ski instructor in France and now has a shot to be a kickoff specialist in Iowa City.

"I'm really, really excited about that," said Mullings, who's left footed. "I can't what to have a go at that. As far as punting goes, I would be in competition with Ryan (Donahue), but I know I'll be spending the year observing him and how the special teams work at Iowa. I'd be more looking forward to next year, to take over when Ryan finishes."

Ottumwa really was the first time Mullings touched a football.

"I didn't really want to punt or kick in Ottumwa, I wanted to experience different positions," Mullings said. "We were all kind of messing around kicking the football and the coaches saw it, and they said, you're going to be punting for us.

"It just took off from there. The coaches said if I was really interested, I should look at college. It all escalated from there, really."

Then-Ottumwa coach Tom Kopatich made some calls. But more than anything else, Mullings, who grew up playing rugby in England, took his first taste of American, grew his skills and began a marketing campaign.

He spent some time at the Australian Punting, Kicking and Holding Academy. There, he was coached by some ex-college punters and learned the arts of punting and kicking.

"I learned the trade here and then went to a few more kicking camps in the U.S., to learn more, raise the profile and get out there a little bit more," Mullings said. "This was over the last two years. It all came to a head with Iowa in October."

Of course, the marketing campaign included a YouTube video, legendary among Hawkeye fans at this point.

"I wanted to be the best out there and put it out there. I wanted to put out the best video," Mullings said.

"On the day of the filming, I told myself every punt that's going on this video is going to have above 5-second hangtime. I managed to get that done pretty quick. It didn't take that long. Consistency was pretty good. I put some kickoff footage on that. Distance-wise, I wanted every kick to be more than 70. That was done. I put in a little game film from when I played in Australia."

The video is gone now. Mullings had to take it down because it showed his e-mail.

"That was so college coaches could contact me," Mullings said. "It was really nice getting e-mail from Iowa fans. That was really nice, but I thought enough for now."

This week, Iowa coaches called and said he'll go on full scholarship this fall. Music to Mullings' ears.

"I just love competition, to be honest with you," Mullings said. "It fires you up even more. For me, if I don't start kickoffs next year, it's a big failure. It's everything."

Not long after the grayshirt offer, Mullings heard from one of his childhood heroes. No, you probably haven't heard of Jonny Wilkinson, a world renowned rugby player from England. But Mullings is a big fan, and the spelling of his first name probably isn't an accident.

"The best rugby player in the world!" Mullings said. "When I signed with Iowa, he sent me a letter. He's someone I idolized growing up. He was the kicker for the England rugby team.

"He sent me a letter, telling me how to deal with the pressure on the big stage, how he deals with it. It was amazing getting a letter from someone like him. You guys don't know who he is, but it's amazing."