As we expected, the pipeline is large from Australia to Iowa City, Iowa. It’s still working well and the Iowa Hawkeyes are capitalizing on the connections they’ve made. Tory Taylor, a native of Melbourne, Australia, joined the Hawkeyes after playing Australian football. All he did was go on to have one of the most legendary careers a college football player has ever had. Iowa is returning to the Australian pipeline and has landed its next player from Australia as Rhys Dakin announced his commitment to the Hawkeyes. The player will join Iowa’s 2024 class on scholarship.

Dakin is also from Melbourne. He attended Prokick Australia, like Tory Taylor, which became a huge success in training rugby players and kickers to play American football. According to their website, they have won 190 football player scholarships with a total value of $45 million. Six Ray Guy winners started with Prokick Australia and 15 have gone on to play in the NFL or CFL. Rhys Dakin seems to know the importance not only of distance off the tee but also of hang time.LeVar Woods and Kik Ferentz boast special teams defense and Dakin would be next. He has to fill Tory Taylor’s huge void, but the relationship between these two Australian players has only fueled Dakin’s success.