He had never seen a game, never been on a football field. It just wasn’t his life. Once he got here, the first game he ever saw was the first one he played in. I think back to it now, it’s like, “Man, that was a very unique time.” That was also during COVID during 2020, so everything was weird. So at the time, I don’t think I realized how strange it actually was until I look back and think about it now.

What was the process like getting him up to speed on the game?

As soon as he got to the States, when he got to Iowa City, he slept right away because it was a 26-hour trip. And then the first time I got a chance to see him during the daylight in Iowa City, he wanted to go straight to the field and start punting balls. We let him do some work. It was funny, that day, my assistant at the time, who is now a high school coach in Chicago at St. Rita, we were watching. We let Tory just start punting balls.

He would punt one way up in the air, and it would hit at the 5-yard line and roll out at the 1. The next one, he would punt the ball out of bounds at the 1-yard line. The next one, he would accidentally hit the pylon. It was insane. He kept asking me, “Is this good? Is this good? Is this good?” I was like, “This is not good. This is great.” Kind of funny.

How did he handle the transition of being in a new place?

He handled it as well as anyone could. If you think back to that time, during the pandemic, it was very different for everybody, very strange in the United States. We probably had four or five cases of positive COVID tests per day during that time of year — I’m talking about here in Iowa City and on our football team. And then you go to his country, in Australia, they had five in the whole country. They were shutting the place down.

It was just different from that standpoint, but then the standpoint of getting here and his entire first season he played in front of no fans and then he really didn’t know anything outside of Iowa City from his apartment to practice. That’s all he knew because a lot of things were shut down. The campus was shut down. Everything was remote learning. So he really didn’t get a chance to see some of that stuff early on.

From the time he came to you that year to the time he left, how did you see him grow as a punter?

As a punter, he’s phenomenal, incredible leg strength, very good touch, especially when you just let him be a natural athlete. One of the things I shared with him, it’s so fun watching him. At the time, we had a young snapper, and anytime the snap would be off is when you saw Tory be at his best because he had to react naturally as a natural athlete, with a low or a high snap, rather than a little bit robotic at times early on. But when he was natural, man, he was really, really good.

Just seeing how much work he has put in from a technical aspect and getting to the point where he’s comfortable being himself and being the natural athlete he is, he has come light years. And he became a very good leader for us. He was a two-time captain on our team, which is hard to do, especially as a specialist. And he’s an absolute fan favorite. This guy will go down as one of the greatest of all time to ever play at the University of Iowa, not only because of his talent and ability but also what kind of person he is.

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