Sun Devils land 2016 Australian punter

The trend in both college football and the NFL of Australian punters has been prevalent in recent years, and today Arizona State has joined that movement when City College of San Francisco punter, Michael Sleep-Dalton committed to the Sun Devils Thursday afternoon.

The 6-2 205-pound Sleep-Dalton committed to ASU sight unseen which is quite rare for a prospect, but not only did he pledge to the first school who offered him but this was a well thought out decision which involved extensive research.

"My coaches back home have been talking to ASU for months and I was in contact with them (ASU) over the last few days with (special teams) Coach Slocum," Sleep-Dalton said. "They were my first offer. I did research on a lot of schools and Arizona State is in the Top-5 for my major which is construction management. It's in the Pac-12 and I will get to play against some of fellow Australian punters which will be amazing.

"I'm in California right now and Arizona State isn't too far from here, it's has really nice warm weather and it's somewhere different so it fit all the boxes. Arizona State is a school that I really wanted to go and I'm so appreciative and lucky that I get to play there now."

Sleep-Dalton played three years of Australian Football after graduating high school, and played at the highest possible level before reaching the professional level. He cited work commitments taking away from the time that he needed to dedicate to play as a professional and that is when he decided to go to the United States and get a quality education and utilize his football skills.

"I can punt rugby style or traditional style," Sleep-Dalton commented. "It just depends on the situation, so if it's windy I will kick it rugby style because I can control it a lot more than a traditional style. I'm just as comfortable with either style.

"A big part of our sport (Australian Football) is the kicking game so I was able to get a lot of the fundamentals from that. It takes a lot of practice to play well. My cousin Cameron Johnson plays for Ohio State as a punter so I saw him and thought 'why not give it a try?' and started practicing traditional style too and now it has all come together quite nicely for me."

Sleep-Dalton arrived at the City College of San Francisco in January 2015 and thanks to a robust course load is scheduled to graduate with his Associates Degree in May of next year and be a 4 for 3 player in terms of eligibility.

This year the punter is averaging 42.2 yds per punt. 13 or his 28 punts have landed inside the 20. Six of them have been fair caught. Sleep-Dalton's has a long punt of 62 yards.

Sleep-Dalton will officially visit Tempe on December 5th.

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