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Australian punter has found a home at Penn State

When punter Daniel Pasquariello of Australia came halfway around the world last summer to enroll at Penn State as a preferred walk-on, he faced his share of obstacles, not the least of which was never having played in a football game under American rules.

Penn State punter Daniel Pasquariello. (Sam Riche/AP)
Penn State punter Daniel Pasquariello. (Sam Riche/AP)Read more

When punter Daniel Pasquariello of Australia came halfway around the world last summer to enroll at Penn State as a preferred walk-on, he faced his share of obstacles, not the least of which was never having played in a football game under American rules.

Then again, there was one aspect of living here that came around right away - developing an American accent.

"He does a great job of going back and forth with his accent just to throw us off guard from time to time," defensive end C.J. Olaniyan said. "In the locker room, he's a funny guy."

The 6-foot, 193-pound Pasquariello, from Melbourne, has become the Nittany Lions' No. 1 punter. After a shaky start, he has helped gradually shore up a weak area on the team. Against Indiana, five of his nine punts were downed inside the 20. He dropped two in that area last week against Temple and averaged 38 yards on five punts.

"He still has a long way to go in terms of maturation and development, but he's becoming more comfortable," said Charles Huff, Penn State's special-teams coordinator. "With becoming comfortable, you become confident. He's worked his tail off to try to become more consistent."

Pasquariello came to Penn State on the recommendation of Nathan Chapman, a former Australian rules football player who runs Prokick Australia, a company that trains punters. Since there was no game film of Pasquariello, Chapman sent Huff a tape of his punting about 50 balls.

When Huff first saw Pasquariello in person, he had "a cannon for a leg," Huff said, but he needed to get stronger to play college football.

"We knew that we had to do a really good job of putting weight on him, putting muscle on him, training his body to be ready for the long haul of the year," he said. "The biggest thing that I can see is that his body is transforming. His core is stronger, which has allowed him to continue to be strong throughout the year."

Huff said that Pasquariello's "aha moment" came during Ohio State week. Late in one practice, the punter had to kick a ball "at least 40 yards with 40 yards of hang time," Huff said. Pasquariello failed on his first attempt, and, frustrated, whacked himself in the helmet.

"That was the first sign of any kind of enthusiasm or frustration that I'd ever seen from him," Huff said. "The very next one, he kicked about a 63-yard bomb, and the team erupted. That was kind of, 'OK, that's who you are. You have to repeat that constantly.' "

Pasquariello didn't take long to adapt to his new surroundings. Coach James Franklin said it has helped Pasquariello that his father comes to the United States on business and sometimes is in this country for as long as two weeks at a time. His parents and brother were present for his college debut against Massachusetts.

"He's really brought a lot to our team off the field," Franklin said. "It's great to have kind of a different perspective on the world, and have a different perspective on the game. He's got a great sense of humor. He's been awesome."

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