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Seg 5 - FB Show 9-29 w Punter Tommy Warner · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the UConn football coaches show. Of course,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Jason candle joining us. And now Tommy Warner, the punter
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: number 49 for the Huskies. Interesting guys, a sophomore. We're
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: going to get a little travel log from Tommy Warner.
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  Speaker 1: Cause he comes from Melbourne, Australia, one place on the
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  Speaker 1: planet that I have not been. So Tommy, you got
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  Speaker 1: to educate me a little bit coming from Australia, all
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the way to Connecticut. What kind of a trip is that?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: If I were to fly, from your country, Melbourne, your city,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: all the way to Connecticut. What, what does that, how
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  Speaker 1: long does that take?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's, it's definitely a long time. Um, so I
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: usually go from Melbourne direct to Dallas. Um, and that's
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  Speaker 2: about 17 and a half hours usually. Um, and then
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  Speaker 2: Dallas to Hartford, which is about another three or four,
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  Speaker 2: I believe, but including layover time. And sometimes you might
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: have to stop at LA or San Francisco, or I
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: go from Melbourne to Sydney first. Um, it just really
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: depends on the flight, but it's at least a full
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  Speaker 2: day usually of traveling.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. I mean, that's amazing. And for you coming from Australia,
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  Speaker 1: when did you understand or start to understand what happens
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  Speaker 1: in American football is I don't think you probably grew
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  Speaker 1: up playing the kind of football that we play here. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So I played, I played Australian rules football my whole life, um,
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  Speaker 2: which isn't too far off. Um, It's just we move
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  Speaker 2: the ball by kicking, obviously. And I played that throughout
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  Speaker 2: high school at a professional level and after high school
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  Speaker 2: as well. Then I saw some friends who were, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they joined these companies to train and earn scholarships playing
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  Speaker 2: football in America. And one of my old coaches, actually,
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  Speaker 2: he was a partner at Miami Dolphins for a couple
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  Speaker 2: of years and he introduced me. to another coach called
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  Speaker 2: Darren Bennett, who was the first ever Australian rules football
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  Speaker 2: player to play in the NFL. He played for the
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  Speaker 2: Chargers back in the 90s. Very successful. And I went
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: down and had a few sessions with him. He taught
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  Speaker 2: me the game, how it works. And I thought, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'll give this a try, have a few tryouts. And
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  Speaker 2: I ended up doing pretty well. And not long after,
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  Speaker 2: I decided to commit. And, you know, this is something
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  Speaker 2: I was going to strive for. And I trained for
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  Speaker 2: about two years back home before eventually earning a scholarship
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  Speaker 2: here in the States and haven't looked back since, to
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  Speaker 2: be honest.
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  Speaker 1: What is the difference between Australian rules and the American
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  Speaker 1: football game, if you can explain it to our listeners?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'll try my best. It's very complicated. It's
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  Speaker 2: probably the most chaos game in the world, but it's
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  Speaker 2: a 360 game. It's four quarters, 30 minutes. It's a
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  Speaker 2: similar shaped ball, a little bit bigger and fatter, but
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  Speaker 2: it's got that oval shape. And at the same objective
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  Speaker 2: by moving the ball from one end to the other,
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  Speaker 2: but we have these big sticks. We call them goalposts.
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  Speaker 2: And the goal is to kick the ball through these
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  Speaker 2: posts to score points. But it's all through kicking, really.
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  Speaker 2: Instead of throwing the ball, we move it by foot.
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  Speaker 2: And you can also handball it, which is kind of
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  Speaker 2: like a rugby pass. You hit the ball out of
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  Speaker 2: your hand. But it's a nonstop 360 game, very physical,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of tackling, running, endurance. So it's just a
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  Speaker 2: very chaotic game. But similar in the sense where you
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  Speaker 2: move the ball down the field, try to get points
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  Speaker 2: on the board.
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  Speaker 1: So as a kicker in australian rules football do you
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  Speaker 1: you don't kick it as a place kick you do
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  Speaker 1: you kick it out of your hands like a punter.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah all kicks are um out of your hands
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  Speaker 2: so if it's if it's live you know you've got
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  Speaker 2: to pick up the ball and quickly kick it off
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  Speaker 2: or if you we call it a mark it's it's
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  Speaker 2: like a stoppage so if one person kicks it to
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  Speaker 2: another they'll catch the ball they'll mark and then they
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  Speaker 2: get 30 seconds to line up and take their steps
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  Speaker 2: and have a kick of the goals but it's all
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  Speaker 2: all from your hands and you drop it out hence
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  Speaker 2: why i you see so many Australians are very comfortable
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  Speaker 2: with punting because it's out of their hands and it's
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  Speaker 2: a very natural feel for us because we've done it
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  Speaker 2: our whole lives, really.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Tommy Warner's with us. He wears number 49 for
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  Speaker 1: the Huskies. He's a sophomore from Melbourne, Australia, transferred from
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  Speaker 1: Northwest Missouri State. You're a big guy, 6'3, 200. Did you,
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  Speaker 1: growing up, have any other thought about playing any other
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  Speaker 1: sport or was it always about Australian rules football?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was... Growing up, it was actually between
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  Speaker 2: Australian rules football and tennis. Both my parents were tennis players.
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  Speaker 2: They played professionally as juniors. So I grew up with
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  Speaker 2: that and I played up until I was about 16.
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  Speaker 2: And then I had to make a decision whether to
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  Speaker 2: commit to Australian rules football or tennis because it was
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  Speaker 2: getting to the point where it was getting quite serious
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  Speaker 2: for both. So I ended up choosing Australian rules football
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  Speaker 2: and stopped playing tennis. And yeah, so tennis was a
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  Speaker 2: big part of my life growing up for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Tennis is a huge part of Australian life, I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you. There have been some great players. I've had
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  Speaker 1: a chance to work with a lot of great tennis
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  Speaker 1: players professionally in broadcasting at the U.S. Open over the years.
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  Speaker 1: This game you just had with Miami of Ohio, we
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  Speaker 1: talked a lot about you before the game because their
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  Speaker 1: special teams are so good. And I thought you did
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  Speaker 1: a nice job of keeping the ball away from their
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  Speaker 1: punt returners. Tell us about that because it's not as
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  Speaker 1: simple as saying I'm going to kick it left or
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to kick it right. A lot of it
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  Speaker 1: depends on the wind. It depends on field position. Tell
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  Speaker 1: us about that. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So going into the game, it changes every week, the
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  Speaker 2: plan we have. Like we knew Miami, Ohio, they had
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  Speaker 2: some fantastic returners. You know, there were some of their
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  Speaker 2: stats in the previous games, but extremely good. So my
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  Speaker 2: intention was to, you know, hit a ball and really
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  Speaker 2: just get no return, whether that's wide or low and flat,
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  Speaker 2: just really try to get it away from the returner.
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  Speaker 2: So We have plans going to the games depending on
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  Speaker 2: the situation. And like you said, the win, the win's
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  Speaker 2: obviously probably the biggest factor for punters. So yeah, we
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  Speaker 2: talk about things like that and we've got plans. And
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  Speaker 2: then on the day we get a sense and a
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  Speaker 2: feel and it's all planned out. It's not really a
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  Speaker 2: spontaneous thing. It's very well thought through for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Now you've had four games with the Huskies here, 17 kicks,
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  Speaker 1: averaging almost 43 a kick. You've gone over 50 twice.
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  Speaker 1: But the stat that impresses me, nine fair catches and
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  Speaker 1: eight have been inside the 20. So all 17 of
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  Speaker 1: your kicks have been pretty effective, I would say at
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  Speaker 1: this point. Do you go for height when you have
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  Speaker 1: a kick that you know is going to be probably
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  Speaker 1: deeper into the opponent's area of the field? It's part
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  Speaker 1: of the strategy, I'm guessing. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So it all really depends on where I am and
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  Speaker 2: what the type of kick is. Being Australian, obviously, I
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  Speaker 2: feel like I have a capability to show different sort
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  Speaker 2: of punts, which you've probably seen. I'll try hit high
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  Speaker 2: spirals with lots of hang time, but then I'll try
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  Speaker 2: hit directional end over end ones where I'm trying to
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  Speaker 2: go wide or low and away from the returner. So
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  Speaker 2: it all really just depends. But yeah, when I'm close
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  Speaker 2: to their end zone, I really try to kick it
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  Speaker 2: high and cause a fair catch and drop it inside
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  Speaker 2: the 10, 15. But yeah, it all really just depends
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  Speaker 2: on the situation for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, special teams are so important every week, no question
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  Speaker 1: about it. let's get to the meat and potatoes, Tommy Warner.
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  Speaker 1: What if, and we don't want this to happen because
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  Speaker 1: we don't want someone returning any of your kicks, but
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  Speaker 1: somebody returns a kick and it's you and him and
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  Speaker 1: you got to make the play. What kind of tackle
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  Speaker 1: are you going to make? That's my question.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I've, I'll definitely give it my all. That's
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  Speaker 2: for sure. Growing up with Australian football, I tackled my
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  Speaker 2: whole life. So it's a different feel without pads. Um,
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  Speaker 2: But here it just seems like everyone just dives headfirst
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  Speaker 2: at them. But I'll make sure to give it everything
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  Speaker 2: and make sure they get down.
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  Speaker 1: You're the last line of defense. That's what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 1: That's a big responsibility. If someone by chance breaks one,
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  Speaker 1: that's not going to happen. But if it does, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to have to wrap them up and bring them down. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: No, it will happen for sure. I'd be pretty disappointed
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  Speaker 2: if I let someone get past me. But yeah, hopefully
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  Speaker 2: that never happens.
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  Speaker 1: All right, quick thought on Syracuse, a big rival in
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  Speaker 1: the region for UConn. And this is an important game.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you guys are coming off a loss here.
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  Speaker 1: You don't want to drop two in a row. So
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  Speaker 1: what's the mindset of this team, do you think, going
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  Speaker 1: into the weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, like we said, we spoke a lot this morning
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  Speaker 2: in the meeting, and Kendall's main message was response. You know,
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  Speaker 2: the weekend's happened.
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  Speaker 1: It's gone.
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  Speaker 2: There's nothing we can do. We've really just got to
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  Speaker 2: look at what we can work on and how we
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  Speaker 2: can respond. So there's a process. Every day we can
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  Speaker 2: get better. And obviously, it's a big rival game at home.
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  Speaker 2: We really want to play well in front of the fans.
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  Speaker 2: So we can take it day by day, have a
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  Speaker 2: really good week. We know we'll just give it everything
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  Speaker 2: we've got. And I think everyone's already kind of let
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  Speaker 2: Saturday go because it's in the past now. There's nothing
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  Speaker 2: we can do. So really just take it day by
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  Speaker 2: day and get better every single day. That's our main motto,
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  Speaker 2: get better. So every day we can do something to
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  Speaker 2: get better.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Tommy Warner, we appreciate you, and good luck
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: this weekend. Good preparation the next few days, and beat Syracuse, okay?
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Thanks.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it, guys. Take care.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: All right, it's Tommy Warner. We'll be back with more
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: of the UConn Football Coaches Show. Matt Reagan, the tight end,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: is coming up next on Learfield.