It’s fourth-and-4 on the Ducks’ own 33-yard line, and Oregon is set in punt formation against the Oregon State Beavers. The snap rifles back to senior punter James Ferguson-Reynolds at the 20-yard line, and does he punt it? No, he takes off and runs it 21yards for a first down and more.

Oregon would go on to blow out the Beavers 41-7, with Ferguson-Reynolds punting twice for 87 yards and his longest punt being 51 yards.

Ferguson-Reynolds is not your average punter. Hailing from Geelong, Australia, with a background in Australian rules football, he started playing football through the Prokick Australia program in 2020.

Australian rules football is very similar to rugby, but with more emphasis on kicking, making it the perfect sport to play before playing American football. This is why Prokick Australia was founded in 2007 by former AFL player Nathan Chapman and has since sent over 200 athletes to compete in college football, according to Chapman.

Ferguson-Reynolds was rated as a two-star prospect and the sixth-best player in Australia by 247Sports. He would later commit to Boise State University following his time with Prokick Australia and play there from 2022 to 2024. While with the Broncos, he was selected to the AP third team All-America, Sports Illustrated second team All-America, Ray Guy Award semifinalist and All-Mountain West first team.

Moving 8,078 miles away from home would be a hard adjustment for most, but for Ferguson-Reynolds, he found it to be almost cinematic.

“Me and the family joked about it a lot. It’s like living in a movie. You know, back home, we’ll see all the college movies,” Ferguson-Reynolds said to Bronco Nation News. “I laugh about it every day with the family and (it’s) still pretty crazy thinking I’m living in America. It’s been a journey for a while, so it’s been awesome.”

In 2025, he entered the transfer portal, and two weeks later, committed to Oregon. Since he arrived in Eugene, Ferguson-Reynolds has been one of the country’s top punters, being named to the Ray Guy Award watchlist and was named the Ray Guy Award punter of the week following his four punts for 201 yards in the loss to Indiana in Week 7.

Ferguson-Reynolds had some competition with last season’s starting punter Ross James during the offseason, but quickly earned his starting role in the fall.

“He’s done a good job and had an unbelievable fall camp –– like did a really good job. We had good competition,” head coach Dan Lanning said following the win against Oklahoma State. “Ultimately, for both those guys, I think they made each other better, but (Ferguson-Reynolds) has done a good job. He’s earned that spot and I think he went and executed there to pin it inside the 10 and have good kicks to help us out.” 

“You know, it’s a part of my game where I’ve grown a lot. You know, the one stat that I am looking at is the net punt and we’ve been perfect on that all year. We haven’t had one return all year, no touchbacks and that’s something I take pride on,” Ferguson-Reynolds said at a press conference in October. “Pin the ball on the one and inside the five and the 10, you know, multiple times it’s turned into a three and out and they punt, and we get a touchdown off it, so field position battle is huge.”

In the game against Wisconsin, he threw a touchdown pass on a fake punt, but it was called back. Ferguson-Reynolds was asked about his experience throwing a football at a recent press conference. “Very slim, obviously got a lot of time on the sidelines, so I think I actually throw more than I kick, and it was kind of a dream come true,” Ferguson-Reynolds said. “That was probably the coolest moment of my life and then the most depressing moment of my life. But no, it was really good.”

Ferguson-Reynolds and the Ducks will take on Minnesota on Friday. The Golden Gophers punt returner and two-way player, Koi Perich, is one of the conference’s best returners, but will be tested against Ferguson-Reynolds, whose line drive punts should limit Perich’s ability to break out in open space. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST at Autzen Stadium with coverage on FOX Sports.