BYU Cougars

BYU punter from New Zealand refers to his craft as 'puntership'

Published Oct. 20, 2015 10:08 a.m. ET

foxsports

BYU junior punter Jonny Linehan is pumped about BYU's 38-24 win over Cincinnati.

Linehan, who is from New Zealand, has a background in rugby. And as excited as he is about his american football team's win, he might be equally excited for his favorite rugby team.

"The All-Blacks just played France in the (Rugby World Cup) quarterfinal and smashed them, 62-13," Linehan said with a wide grin during Monday's press conference. "Put that in the news stories for sure. People need to know about that."

Linehan is still learning the differences between rugby and football, but the transition seems to have gone smoothly.

"I'm really enjoying football," Linehan said. "It's awesome. But at the same time, with rugby I got to do everything. I was on the field 80 minutes a game. Now I'm on the field for 80 seconds a game, if that. It's been difficult because I don't have as big a role, but I expected that. Some may say the I'm just a punter, but I've tried to embrace that. I call it puntership. I just try to do my best with the fourth-down army, but at the same time I'm on the sideline trying to pump guys up."

(h/t Daily Herald)