Cal Football: After Seeing the Rest of America, Jamieson Sheahan Finds Berkeley

Cal punter making a smooth transition from his homeland of Australia

Before he and his father made a recruiting trip to the Cal campus last fall . . . before he arrived here in January to enroll in classes . . . before spring practice and the fall football schedule were canceled by COVID-19 and the season finally was rescued, Jamieson Sheahan already had traveled from his home in Australia to visit America.

It was in December of 2017, “a boys trip” one year after finishing the Aussie equivalent of high school.

Sheahan, who pronounces his first name is “JAM-i-son” and goes by Jam, arrived in Los Angeles with his best friend. They took in a Clippers game and did the tourist stuff, including Hollywood Boulevard. They flew to New York City, saw Niagara Falls and trekked to New England to watch a Patriots game, where he experienced his first American football game and the most severe cold weather of his life.

Back in California, they traveled up the coast and spent four days in San Francisco, visiting Alcatraz and riding rental bikes across the Golden Gate to Sausalito.

*** Sheahan talks here about his 2017 trip to the U.S. and the prospect of punting this season in front of empty stadiums: 

And they took a bus to spend a day at Yosemite National Park, which exceeded Sheahan’s imagination.

“One of the more incredible days of my life,” he said. “You can’t imagine it. You can’t even think of it until you’re actually there looking at it. It doesn’t feel real.

“It was just the most surreal experience, looking up at El Capitan and just feeling really small in comparison.”

But throughout his whirlwind tour of the U.S., Sheahan never made it across the Bay Bridge to check out the city he now calls home.

A 23-year-old sophomore, Sheahan will be the Bears’ punter this season. His ultimate goal is to play in the NFL, which he has followed closely for years. But for now, he is entirely content with his new address.

“I absolutely love Berkeley, I love the Bay,” he said. “San Francisco just across the bridge is incredible.”

Sheahan is among a growing subculture of Australian Rules football players who have made the transition to American football as punters. Playing the halfback flank position — a defensive role he compares to cornerback or safety — Sheahan handled the ball a lot and became adept at punting it with either foot while on the run.

His Aussie Rules career blossomed starting in the 10th grade when he received a scholarship to play at Geelong Grammar in southern Australia, about 40 miles from Melbourne.

Geelong Grammar, founded in 1855, is one of the country’s elite schools. And it presents perhaps a unique experience for ninth graders, who spend a year in the wilderness of the Victoria highlands at Camp Timbertop, where they learn self-reliance and resiliency.

Sheahan did not attend Timbertop because he didn’t arrive on campus until the 10th grade, but he became friends there with former Saint Mary’s College basketball player Jock Landale, who had the experience that England’s Prince Charles once called “one of the better years of my life.”

*** Sheahan talks here about Timbertop and Landale:

When Jam’s semi-pro career in Aussie Rules ran its course, he found a way to translate his love for American football into an opportunity to play the game and get a college education.

*** In this video, Sheahan compares the two sports and shares what he enjoys most about both sports:

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*** And here Sheahan discusses how he’d like to contribute as a punter this Cal’s season by helping to pin opposing teams deep in their own territory, giving the Bears' defense a chance to do its work:

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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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