Makenzie Ryan punts against collegiate powerhouse Texas Longhorns in 2024. Photo: Supplied.
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Kyabram native Makenzie Ryan isn’t just a gun punter for the Univeristy of Lousiana-Monroe Warhawks, a NCAA division one college football program – he can lay a hell of a tackle too.
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In a viral moment caught on camera in one of the biggest games of his young career, Ryan was forced to punt the ball back to the University of Alabama trailing 14-0 in the second game of the season, with the kick throwing his team out of position.
The punt fell into the hands of Alabama’s Cole Adams, who proceeded to go on a huge return before Ryan swept around and cleaned him up with a clothesline tackle reminiscent of something out of the WWE.
The Warhawks ended up losing to Alabama, one of the strongest and richest programs in all of college football 73-0, but, for Ryan, it gave him the most iconic moment of his career and the United States a taste of the rough and tumble found in one of Australia’s codes of football.
“In one of the write-ups of the game, a journalist said in football there's no greater shame for a player than getting tackled by a kicker or a punter,” Ryan’s father Peter said.
“The journalist wrote the only thing more embarrassing than getting taken down by a punter is getting taken out of your shoes by a punter, so it was a big moment for him and obviously, his background in footy helped him be able to do something like that.
“I think there was over 100,000 in the stadium, so it was quite an experience.”
Ryan started his football journey like most kids, playing for his local club Kyabram in juniors before playing in a reserves premiership and winning the league goal-kicking award that year.
He then transitioned to Tongala for a couple of years before one of his closest friends, Dylan Joyce, was picked up by Miami University and persuaded Ryan to give it a shot.
Makenzie Ryan at his Pullar St home in Kyabram before heading to the US in 2024.
In Ryan’s freshman season with the Warhawks in 2024, the 26-year-old tallied 58 punts at an average of 39 yards for a total of 2,276 punt yards in 12 games.
“He enjoyed it (his freshman year), they just missed out on getting a bowl game, they had a couple of close games that they were hoping they might have won and that would have got them a bowl game,” Peter said.
“It's all very professional over there and there’s a lot of money involved, but he’s enjoying it.
“All and all, he’s happy, and if he is happy, that’s all we ask, I think he's just enjoying the position he's in, and he's got some good friends and enjoying the lifestyle.”
