‘It’s a surreal experience’: Benalla’s Luke Dunne begins college football career at University of Oregon

The 20-year old punter joins a lengthening list of Australians who have taken their talents to the states to play college football.

Dunne’s switch to the states marked a whirlwind year for the young star, having moved to Geelong to begin his journey at punting academy Prokick early last year.

“It’s pretty crazy because I only started at Prokick in March,” Dunne said.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do until I saw this and thought, ‘why not?’

“I started working with Tom Hornesy who did Prokick and played at Memphis from 2010 to 2017, he won the Ray Guy Award for the best college punter in the whole nation and he was the first Australian to do so.”

After honing his craft with some esteemed mentors for the better part of eight months, Dunne received the life-changing news at training in October.

“I went to a Melbourne session in October and the coaches told me they thought I’d been kicking pretty well,” he said.

“They told me they liked my film and said a school (in US) might be interested, it was pretty crazy to hear that.

“As much as I knew I’d go over eventually, when it happened it was a crazy experience, it’s a surreal experience, a couple of days later Tom told me I had a meeting with one of the specials teams coaches, from there I committed, did the paperwork and flew out two weeks ago.”

With an extensive sporting background, Dunne enjoyed an illustrious junior career in Benalla, playing his footy for Benalla Saints, basketball for Benalla Breakers and cricket for the Benalla Bushrangers.

The COVID-19 pandemic would dash hopes for a big top-age year, however, leaving Dunne to reconsider his options after high-school.

“I’ve played footy since I was probably five years old, played for the Benalla Saints for three or four seasons, but our top age was the COVID year, so we missed out on that,” Dunne said.

“I thought there’d be no chance of going professional or anything like that, I played one more season and around then I started getting into punting.”

After touching down in Oregon only two weeks ago, Dunne said he was already settling in nicely thanks to a fellow Prokick graduate.

Former Oregon punter Tom Snee has taken Dunne under his wing and helped him find his feet.

“I’ve been hanging out with Tom a lot, he finished up in the program last season,” Dunne said.

“He’s been a massive help and a massive support, he’s become one of my closest mates and has pretty much been a big brother to me.

“I’m basically just following his footsteps.”

As for goals and aspirations this year, Dunne is taking it one step at a time, but said running out onto Oregon’s Autzen Stadium in September to the cheers of thousands of adoring Ducks fans will be a dream come true.

“I just want to do the best I can,” Dunne said.

“When I see the videos of the games and the team running onto the field, that’s stuff I’ve dreamed of as a kid.

“Playing in front of thousands of people will be a dream come true really.”