Hometown: Sandringham, Australia
Previous School: Missouri
The UteNation Countdown to Kickoff Series continues today with no. 92, punter Orion Phillips. Phillips came to the Utes via the transfer portal this offseason from the University of Missouri after transferring there from Murray State.
Phillips did not play in his one year at Mizzou as the backup, but he earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honorable mention and was an FCS semifinalist for Punter of the Year in his freshman year at Murray State in 2023. The Aussie is an alum of ProKick Australia, which has produced other Utah punters as recently as Jack Bouwmeester (graduate transfer to Texas), as well as Ute All-Americans and Ray Guy winners Tom Hackett and Mitch Wishnowsky.
UteNation Take
Utah football has a long history of great special teams punters going back to the days of Louie Sakoda, and the ProKick recruiting pipeline specifically has been good to the program for years. Will Phillips be the next great Australian Utah punter? He started off fairly well in his American football debut averaging 43.1 yards on 54 punts with 17 downed inside the 20-yard line and 11 punts over 50 yards.
Phillips was the only punter listed on the spring roster, so he may not have a lot of competition going into fall camp. However, the standard has been set at Utah for a long time, so the program has high expectations for the new addition.
Remembering Phillips’ Recruitment
Phillips was a part of the Class of 2023 recruiting and a part of the now famed ProKick Australia pipeline of prospects to become punters in the United States. Phillips signed with Murray State, who has a long standing relationship with the ProKick group, and Phillips made an immediate impact his freshman year. He transferred to Missouri to battle for the starting punter spot where he was beat out by Luke Bauer. Given Utah’s need for a punter after Bouwmeester’s departure and its success with Australian punters, Utah should be a good fit for Phillips as the Utes look to reload the special teams.
