Around the World with Adit: Matt McRobert
In 2017, Matt McRobert's high school friend, David Balcomb, tagged him on a Facebook post.
It was tryouts information to get into Prokick Australia, an academy focused on preparing Australian athletes to compete and perform as punters or kickers at college or even the NFL level.
The two spent all of high school kicking the rugby ball and decided to take their chances at the tryouts.
Flash forward to September of 2019, Sam Houston opened their Southland Conference play at home against Incarnate Word.
Behind the Bearkats' 45-6 win that day, little do most know that punters of both teams are high school buddies from Sydney, Australia.
"It was the best moment of my career," Matt said. "I have a picture of me, my family, my girlfriend, and David, from that game in my bedroom. It was a moment I will cherish forever."
Matt had just finished his bachelor's degree in sports management when David tagged him on that post.
He was 20-years old and was not ready to get into the workforce, so he took the chance to get into the Prokick Australia.
Two months after the tryouts, both Matt and David got accepted to the academy, where he spent as short as eight months converting his rugby experience to football punting and look for scholarship opportunities in the US.
"I was roommates with Dave (Balcomb) in the academy too," Matt said. "We spent our days getting used to kicking the American spiral and practicing different scenarios of the game."
The scholarship opportunities came when Matt went home for Christmas break.
He did not want another bachelor's degree and is fixated to get a master's degree, and chose Sam Houston.
After Christmas, he returned to the academy, preparing for his departure for another three more months.
"Most Prokick Australia athletes spend up to a year in the academy depending on how the opportunities show up," Matt said. "But for me, I needed to go quickly, so I only spent around eight months in the academy."
Despite having earned all the titles, including winning the national championship and being an AP FCS Second Team All-American in 2019, Matt still finds himself asking questions about football rules to this day.
Understandably so, since he said, "I never knew really what (football) was until eight months before I came over here."
Having a short timeframe to learn the sport, Matt tried to learn the best way he knew, playing Madden on the Playstation and despite being still on the learning curve, Matt believes that his 14 years of experience playing rugby translates well into football.
He played rugby all his life through college, and being a faster-paced sport relative to football; Matt can perform well under fire.
On one of Matt's first football matches against Prairie View, he had to deal with a high snap.
Matt chose to tip the ball back towards him and kick the ball sideways instead of the traditional front kick.
"That play had quite the reaction; ESPN even called me for an interview regarding that kick," Matt said. "But it is a normal thing in Australia. In rugby, we face situations where we need to kick sideways."
From that experience, Matt realized that the opportunity is vast for Australian kickers to perform in college and even in the NFL.
He learned from an early age how to kick to the corners and specific spaces from rugby and believes that it brings something new to the table.
Fifty-three Australians currently punts in the NCAA, and Prokick Australia has played a significant role for these athletes.
Before getting his opportunity through the academy, Matt earned his bachelor's degree in sports management at the International College of Management of Sydney.
A little trivia about his alma mater, he went to classes at the castle where Leonardo DiCaprio held a wine glass in the iconic scene of The Great Gatsby.
He had to wear formal wear every day and he gladly swapped the suit and tie with shoulder pads and helmet, saying that the opportunity to go to Sam Houston is as good as it gets.
Sports has been a big part of Matt's life, but it's never been more than something fun that makes him happy.
He never saw himself going professional in rugby, so the idea of getting something out of competing athletically opened a whole new world for him.
"It's an amazing opportunity for a 21-year-old to go venture out to America, get an education, and play football in front of twenty-five thousand people," Matt said.
Coach Clayton Carlin, Sam Houston's defensive coordinator, said, "use football to get the education, don't let it use you."
Matt's parents realized this when they enrolled Matt into Prokick Australia.
The understood that the opportunity to get a scholarship in the US outweighs the tuition they need to pay to enroll their son in the academy.
Nikki and James McRobert will be visiting Matt in December after being kept apart by COVID-19 the last two years.
Matt sternly pointed out how his family is the biggest supporter of his career and is visibly excited to see him in a few weeks.
His family's support added to Matt's incredible experience playing as a Bearkat, and even in his last year of eligibility, he is still indulging himself in and for those moments.
When asked what's next for him, he said, "I'm just making sure I play my role for the team (this season)."
"I heard a lot of opportunities that could arise in the future whether playing professionally or going back home and get to the workforce, but that's months away. I just want us to go all the way through January, and punting's going to play a big role on that."
Matt does not like to plan too far ahead, and he knows that he will be leaving Sam Houston with a lot of good memeories on top of the two master's degrees in sports management and human sports performance in his back pocket.
He do know he wants to give back to the people that helped him get to where he is now and wants to help pave the way for other Australians to be able to experience what he did.
"I don't want to be a one-hit-wonder, so I hope to help continue the Australian pipeline here in Sam Houston," he said.
After the end of this season, Matt will stay at Huntsville through spring to help prepare the upcoming Sam Houston recruit from Prokick Australia, Jack Vucenovic, who will be punting for the Bearkats next season.
