“It all happened so fast.”

After seven years away - two at Tocal College and five working on a farm in Beckom - 25-year-old Nathan Tiyce had just returned to his hometown of Gerringong. He was back to play local rugby league while working for a contractor, driving tractors and trucks. Then, everything changed.

Just a few games into the season with the Gerringong Lions, Tiyce suffered an injury that sidelined him. While recovering, a simple scroll through Instagram unexpectedly set him on a completely new path.

“I was scrolling on my phone and saw a post about a guy getting drafted into the NFL at 30. I thought, ‘How do you even do that?’” Tiyce said.

“So I looked through his profile and found out he’d gone through a program called Pro Kick Australia. I emailed them asking for a trial.”

Pro Kick Australia is a specialised program that trains and mentors Australian athletes to transition into American football, preparing them for college scholarships and professional careers as punters and kickers.

At first, Tiyce didn’t hear back and assumed it wasn’t going anywhere. But months later, an unexpected email arrived - he’d been invited to a trial in Sydney.

“I had literally never kicked an NFL ball before,” he laughed. “So I went to Rebel Sport, bought one of those fake ones, and went out to the field the day before the trial. As soon as I kicked it, it popped - it was that bad.”

While he had some kicking experience from junior rugby league and a bit of Aussie rules, punting with an American football was uncharted territory.

Tiyce will begin his four year college scholarship without ever having played a game of college football before

Tiyce attended the trial on November 23, 2023. Despite feeling like he didn’t kick particularly well, Pro Kick Australia offered him a spot in the program on the spot. Just two months later, on January 24, he moved to Melbourne for full-time training.

“I was training almost every day, in the gym three times a week, just working hard,” he said.

In April 2024, Tiyce joined Pro Kick on a three-week tour of the United States, an experience that solidified his commitment to the journey.

“We went over there to get a feel for the size and scale - how big college football actually is. You can’t fully grasp it until you’re there. The colleges were massive, the programs were so personalised - everyone had their own nutritionist, for bigger players Lamborghini's came and picked them up. It was unreal,” he said.

Then, on December 24, Tiyce was offered a four year scholarship to Mississippi State - and he didn’t hesitate.

Because he left school in Year 10, Nathan had to complete six months of study in Central Queensland to qualify for the academic component of the scholarship, which includes both football and university education.

Now, he's flying out to the United States on Thursday.

In less than two years, Tiyce has gone from never touching an NFL ball to preparing for his first college football game as a punter, scheduled for August 30.

“From what I’ve heard, there’ll be about 50,000 people at that first game,” he said. “Our fifth game is at Texas A&M University - they get 105,000 people in the stands, and they sell out every time.”

As a punter, Tiyce will be aiming for precision and consistency.

“Ideally, you’re trying to hit it 45 yards with four and a half seconds of hang time - that’s the standard. Then there are Aussie-style drop punts, which go about 35 yards - you just try to kick them as high as you can.”

Surprisingly, it’s not the massive crowds that make him nervous.

“It’s going to be so overstimulating with that much noise,” he said. “But honestly, I’d probably be more nervous kicking at Gerringong footy fields in front of 10 mates than in front of 100,000 strangers. What I’m most anxious about is meeting the team, meeting the coaches, and proving that I can actually kick.”

From farming and playing local footy, to the huge stadiums of College Football - Nathan’s story is a testament to the power of saying yes to unexpected opportunities. The Bugle wishes him the best of luck!