Punter Rhys Dakin journeys from Down Under to Michigan State football

EAST LANSING – Rhys Dakin loves a good road trip. Michigan State football’s new punter certainly is on one, and not just with his offseason transfer. Dakin, a 21-year-old native of Melbourne, Australia, arrives after spending his first two years at Iowa alongside new Spartans special teams coach LeVar Woods .

And his journey to his new home comes with the task of replacing Big Ten punter of the year Ryan Eckley and joining the lineage of great MSU legs that includes Greg Montgomery, Ray Stachowicz, Brandon Fields, Mike Sadler and Bryce Baringer . “I’ve come to know that a lot of punters here have had success, in Bryce and Ryan,” Dakin said Tuesday, March 24, after the Spartans ’ spring practice. “I knew that it was gonna be a completely new program here with the coaching changes and everything.

But I know what I was gonna get out of coach Woods. I feel like he coaches me the best, and he knows how to coach me as well. And I know he’s always had success, so I figured I would see that success here.

” The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Dakin earned honorable mention All-Big Ten last season in the media vote, after averaging 43. 6 yards per punt for the Hawkeyes. That came after he was named a Football Writers Association of America freshman All-American in 2024, along with second-team All-Big Ten by the media and third team by the coaches, with a 44.