Alex Smith didn’t get in for a single play in Georgia Southern’s 41-24 win over Georgia State last week and he’s hoping he doesn’t get to play against Arkansas State this Saturday, either.

“Marvelous,” Smith said when asked about his lack of playing time. “Wonderful. I don’t mind at all.”

If Smith’s not playing that means the Eagles are. Playing well, that is.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound junior is Georgia Southern’s punter and he’s the last guy Eagles coaches and fans want to see on the field because that means the opponent is going to get the football.

Actually, the Georgia State game marked the first time in his career he had failed to take the field for a punt. He has been the Eagles’ regular punter since his first game as a true freshman against The Citadel to start the 2023 season.

At that time Smith was somewhat of a novelty in that he is from Melbourne, Australia. He is part of the great influx of punters from Down Under who have seemingly taken over college football.

The New York times did a survey in which it determined the 136 teams playing FBS and FCS football had 81 Australian punters. This did other levels of college football so more than likely it’s going to be difficult to watch a game without seeing an Aussie punting.

Smith, who recently turned 26, is one of eight Aussie punters playing in the Sun Belt Conference including 30-year-old Southern Mississippi freshman Jack Murley. According to the NCAA Murley is the oldest player in FBS.

Like most of those punters Smith is a product of Prokick, Australia’s version of the IMG Academy only it deals only with training punters for American football. Prokick was founded by Nathan Chapman, a former Australian Rules Football player who kicked in three pre-season games for Green Bay in 2004.

While Chapman didn’t stick with either the Packers or the Chicago Bears, he saw the potential for AFL players and formed the academy to train punters. He then began developing the pipeline for sending his prodigies to America.

Smith is perhaps the most unconventional recruit on the Georgia Southern roster. He became an Eagle without ever having set foot on campus.

“I got a shout out from Prokick that got me over here,” Smith said. “We wind up with not much of a choice as to where we want to go.

“They talk to special teams coaches in America who tell them, ‘we need this, we need that,’” Smith said. “The Prokick people say we have the guy for you.

“So, my coaches in Australia came to me said ‘We’ve got an offer from Georgia Southern for you. These are your coaches, they’re great dudes. Do you want to play there,’ and I said, ‘Absolutely!’”

And that’s how Smith, who hails from Melbourne which is a city of 5.4 million people, wound up in Statesboro, Ga., and, Smith said, it’s been a happy marriage.

“Well, it’s a small town but I could feel the southern hospitality and the coaches in the building made me feel so welcome straight away and all the boys welcomed me as an old guy coming in,” Smith said. “I just sort of made it my home and I have for the last three years.

“I’ve got my little pockets where I go to get the stuff I need to get done and get what I need for this portion of my life. So, I take care of business and I’m enjoying it.”

For Smith and the Eagles, it’s been a win-win situation for both: Smith is going to get a degree in business and the Eagles have a punter who is more than capable of flipping the field for them.

For his career Smith is averaging 41.7 yards per kick, 42.44 this season. On 32 punts this year he has placed nine inside the 20. Another 12 have been fair caught, there’s been one touchback and nine have been returned for 75 yards with one of those going for 54 yards at Fresno State.

Unlike most of the Aussie punters Smith did not grow up playing football. He was a tennis player but when COVID hit and those activities shut down, he started looking for something else to do and that led to Prokick.

The Smith which showed up on Coach Clay Helton’s doorstep is a much different person today.

“When I walked in the building one of the coaches could tell I was a tennis player,” Smith said. “I I was very frail in the body. I was pretty soft. I’ve put on a lot of size, a lot of weight and grown a lot.

“That was the biggest adjustment:  turning a former tennis player into a football player. Now I feel like I kind of belong here.”