Rhys Dakin brings his own personality, punting prowess to Iowa

Editor’s note: First in a nine-part series looking at a Hawkeye player from each position ahead of the 2024 season

IOWA CITY — A Bruegger’s Bagels worker correctly assumed that Rhys Dakin was on the Hawkeye football team, and even guessed his position correctly.

Just one problem — wrong punter.

“One of the employees asked me if I was Tory,” Dakin said, referencing his celebrity-status predecessor Tory Taylor. And it wasn’t even a first.

“I think it happened a couple other times, but that's the one I can remember,” said Dakin, who suspects it is because of his Australian accent. “That's the most recent one.”

The encounter at a bagel shop is emblematic of the unique position Dakin is in as he takes over for Taylor at perhaps the most high-profile school for punting in the country.

Taylor broke the NCAA records for career yards per punt, single-season yards per punt and single-season punting yards — 46.3, 48.2 and 4,479, respectively — while gaining national notoriety. Raygun sold thousands of Taylor’s “punting is winning” T-shirts.

Taylor even had his own Applebee’s commercial where the “Iowa punting legend” decided to “treat myself and have the best burger in town” after his record-breaking senior season.

“It’s awesome to come to a place where people actually appreciate punting,” Dakin said.

Now as Iowa welcomes another much-anticipated punter from Melbourne, Australia, the Dakin-Taylor comparisons will be seemingly inevitable. But Dakin brings a different personality and punting.

“The only thing that’s similar is their number, and they’re both from Australia,” Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods said. “But I think those are the two similarities. … He’s his own person.”

Woods described Dakin as “very observant” and “very laid back.”

On the field, Woods believes Dakin is “trending up” and “has all the ability to be an excellent punter here.”

“He’s got great leg strength,” Woods said. “He’s very technically sound for his age.”

His leg power — both in distance and hang time — is especially noticeable.

“I had a couple of 60-yarders today,” Dakin said at Iowa’s media day earlier this month. “I’ve kicked one I’m going to say 65 probably, like confirmed. My best hang time is a 5.7, so definitely take pride in my hang time.”

Dakin’s power was evident the next day at Iowa’s annual Kids’ Day at Kinnick open practice, where he had a booming punt that went about 60 yards, landed inside the opponent’s 10-yard line and had a hang time exceeding four seconds.

Consistency is now the key for Iowa’s freshman punter.

“He’s got to be consistent with what he’s doing every day,” Woods said at Iowa’s media day. “He had a really good day today — probably his best day he’s had since he’s been here. But yesterday, not the best. He’ll be the first to tell you that.”

Dakin has the benefit of working with Woods, who has built a reputation as one of the better special teams coordinators in the country.

“He hasn’t really been harsh on me if I have a bad practice,” Dakin said of Woods. “He’s been really supportive, especially with mental approaches as well.”

Away from Iowa, Dakin has worked with Prokick Australia — the same coaches that have worked with his predecessor Taylor.

“I feel like I can contact Tory whenever I need to,” Dakin said. “He’s in his first year as a rookie, so I try to stay out of his ear. But we spoke just a couple of days ago on the phone, just working through some mental approaches.”

Dakin’s arrival marks a continuation of a trend — both at Iowa and at college football programs across the country — of turning to Australia to fill punting needs.

Iowa’s last American-born first-team punter was Colten Rastetter, who last punted for the Hawkeyes in the 2018 season. Since then, it has been Michael Sleep-Dalton in 2019, Taylor from 2020-23 and soon Dakin in 2024 and beyond.

“I grew up kicking a ball at the age of 9, probably even before that,” Dakin said. “So it really comes natural to us to kick a ball at a decent distance with some hang time. … In Australia, the main sport is Australian football, and that involves kicking like 70 percent of the time. So translating it to punting is pretty easy.”

As for fans’ confusion between Dakin and the much-different Taylor, Dakin has a simple, straightforward answer.

“I just say I’m the next punter for Iowa,” Dakin said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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