Wilson Berry continues the family American Football punting tradition
Melbourne’s Wilson Berry won’t lack for advice when he’s got brother and Pittsburgh Steelers punter Jordan Berry and NFL prospect Max Duffy to call on after accepting a scholarship to Kentucky.
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Punting has become the Berry family tradition.
Pittsburgh Steelers’ Jordan Berry was a pioneer for young Australians looking to make a career in American Football.
Younger brother Wilson Berry will join him in the US next year after accepting a scholarship at the University of Kentucky for 2021.
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The 22-year-old will take over punting duties at the Wildcats from former Fremantle player Max Duffy.
Jordan and Duffy have been important sounding boards for Wilson.
“As soon as I made the transition (Jordan) has been in contact pretty regularly going through what’s expected at the level,” he said.
“It’s a pretty handy contact having someone who is the best in the world to do it in your back pocket.
“He’s just bought a house in Lexington, so we thought Kentucky would be the best landing spot.
“I’ve spoken a lot with Max, he played with Freo so we spoke a lot about the (punting) pathway and he raves about Kentucky, so it made it an easy choice to go there.
“Their football program is really exciting, they’re in the best conference in America and they’re a team that’s really building.”
Duffy is arguably the best punting prospect in America after winning the Ray Guy award as the best punter in college football last season.
Wilson is the latest talent to roll off the ProKick production line, run by former AFL star Nathan Chapman and John Smith.
The hard work has only just begun. Looking forward to representing the state of kentucky! #bbn @Coach_Matsakis @UKCoachStoops @Max__Duffy @JohnnyPKA @ProkickAus pic.twitter.com/MDgrDSnoWL
— Wilson Berry (@WilsonBerry61) August 3, 2020
After coming through the ranks at Western Jets and three seasons with Essendon’s VFL side, the 191cm forward was looking for a different challenge.
“AFL was always my first go-to. I was captain at Western Jets and thought I was a pretty good chance to get drafted but draft day came and it didn’t work out.
“I got a call from Essendon, so played on their VFL list for three years, and after that journey I felt I wasn’t up to the standard just yet so I wanted to look for something different, another opportunity.
“Nathan Chapman and John Smith have been sending Aussies over (to the US) for over 10 years now.
“It’s the elite punting program in the world.
“We’ve got internationals joining now like Dave Shanahan from Ireland and Alex McCourt’s from the US, so he’s travelled to Australia to learn how to punt.”
It would be a dream to join Jordan in the NFL ranks but Wilson - who will study excercise science - is keeping his feet on the ground for now.
“If you’re going to give it a good crack you might as well go for the top,” he said.
“At the moment I haven’t played an official game, so I’ll just take it one week at a time in footy terms.”