Ewan Baulch had already built a substantial sporting life in Melbourne before heading to the United States. The Victorian made more than 100 appearances for Brunswick Football Club, progressing from youth football through the under-19s, reserves and senior side. Then he traded Australian rules for something completely different.
Baulch joined Nevada as a freshman punter, swapping Melbourne for Reno and a sport in which he could influence play across the ground for one of American football's most specialised jobs. When he arrived, though, he wasn't the only Australian in the building.
Nevada's 2026 roster includes three Australians: Baulch, Sydney kicker Jacob Fernandez and senior tight end Jayden O'Rourke from Tweed Heads. What makes the group unusual is how differently they got there. Baulch came through Australian rules, Fernandez through soccer and O'Rourke learned American football in Queensland.
Fernandez is Baulch's roommate, while O'Rourke has been part of the Wolf Pack program since 2023. Baulch told The Nevada Sagebrush that he was learning the ropes from O'Rourke and valued having an experienced Australian already inside the program. For two freshmen adjusting to college football and life in the United States, that familiarity matters.
Baulch's pathway will sound familiar to anyone who has followed the growth of Australian punters in college football. Nevada lists him at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds and credits him with more than 100 Brunswick appearances across several levels of the club. His job in America is now far narrower than the one he left behind: instead of being involved across a game, his responsibility is to punt the football.
The adjustment around that job is considerably bigger. Baulch is learning a new sport while studying at an American university and establishing himself thousands of kilometres from home. He told The Nevada Sagebrush that he had not followed much college football before making the move, which makes the presence of two other Australians in Reno more than a curiosity.
Three very different roads to Reno
Fernandez's story makes the group more interesting than simply another collection of Australian specialists. The 6-foot-6 freshman from Sydney did not arrive at Nevada through Australian rules. He came from soccer. Nevada says Fernandez played as a goalkeeper in Australia, most recently with Blacktown City FC after previously spending time with Northbridge FC. He is now listed as a kicker on the Wolf Pack roster.
O'Rourke's route is different again. The 6-foot-9, 262-pound tight end grew up in Tweed Heads and learned American football in Australia, developing with the Gold Coast Stingrays in Queensland. He played in the Stingrays junior program from 2019 to 2021, suited up for the Colts in 2020 and progressed to senior football in 2022 before joining Nevada in 2023.
Since then, O'Rourke has appeared in 25 games across his first three college seasons. As a junior in 2025 he played all 12 games, contributing at tight end and on special teams, and caught two passes for 25 yards in the season finale against UNLV. His pathway remains much less common than the established Australian punting route. Australian specialists are now familiar sights across college football; an Australian developing at a local gridiron club and reaching an FBS roster as a 6-foot-9 tight end is something else entirely.
There is no evidence Nevada deliberately set out to assemble an Australian contingent. The three players did not emerge from one recruiting program or even one sport. That is what makes the group worth noticing: one played more than 100 games of Australian rules, another came through soccer and the third put on a helmet with the Gold Coast Stingrays and learned the game he now plays in the United States. They ended up in the same locker room.
No longer arriving alone
Australia's college football story remains dominated by punting, and for good reason. A recognised pathway now exists between Australian kicking programs and American universities that barely existed a generation ago. Nevada offers a smaller glimpse of what can happen around that established pathway. It does not establish a new recruiting trend, and three players at one university are not evidence that American programs are suddenly scouring Australia for every position. Whether schools are increasingly returning to Australia after successful experiences with previous recruits is a larger question that needs more evidence. What is already changing is the experience of the Australians who make the move.
Baulch did not arrive in Reno as the only Australian trying to understand an unfamiliar college football environment. His roommate had crossed from Sydney, while elsewhere in the program was a player from Tweed Heads who had already spent three years learning how the system works. Baulch has also started producing on the field, punting seven times for 309 yards through Nevada's first two games of 2026, an average of 44.1 yards with a long of 61.
But the most interesting part of Nevada's Australian story might not be a number. When O'Rourke arrived from the Gold Coast Stingrays in 2023, he was the Australian learning how an American college football program worked. Three years later, he's the one showing another Australian the ropes.