Punter Jack Ansell Confident in Shaking Off Struggles Ahead of Second Year With Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Before stepping onto the field last season against Oregon State inside Ross-Ade Stadium, Purdue punter Jack Ansell had never played a snap of organized football.
The Australian punter moved away from home and has been in West Lafayette since last summer. While he's been able to train his body for the physical challenges that came with being a college football player in America, dealing with the mental aspect of the game didn't always come easy.
"I think I expected it to be tough. But I definitely underestimated just how tough it would be," Ansell said of his first season with Purdue. "This is really high-level football. And by no means did I think it'd be easy coming into it. But it's really, really challenging."
Ansell had a rollercoaster season in 2021, starting in all but one of the Boilermakers' 13 games and ending the year averaging 38.3 yards per punt. He's been faced with a position battle in fall camp but is beginning to exude more and more confidence in himself heading into his second year with the program.
Every ounce of experience helps, but when he lined up to receive a snap in a Big Ten football game, he had none. So Ansell would simply get into his own way. For a punter, one mistake can mean the difference between getting a pat on the back when returning to the sidelines versus sitting on the bench for an entire game.
Now, he's entering year No. 2 with experiences to look back on, and it's only making him better with time.
"Jack's hard on himself. He's a perfectionist, you know. He doesn't like to lose," said Purdue's new special teams coordinator Karl Maslowski. "He's overly competitive, and that's what I learned early on. He'll beat himself up to that point."
For Ansell, part of building a strong foundation was getting back to enjoying his life in the United States away from the football field. When things weren't going right last season, he said it became hard to relish the pastimes that kept his mind off of the sport.
But during the offseason, when he wasn't under the microscope day in and day out, Ansell got to see his family for the first time since he left Australia. They took a much-needed vacation in Hawaii.
"It's not that different to West Lafayette, I found," Ansell said with a laugh." It was good to get a chance to see my family again, it had been over a year. My mom is actually going to come out for a game this year, which will be really exciting."
Ansell's family was unable to see Purdue play during the 2021 season due to COVID-19 restrictions that lingered in Australia. But the sophomore punter had plenty of shoulders to lean on when times were tough.
Not only did Ansell call his family once or twice a week to share his experiences, but he keeps in touch with other Australian punters across the country. Rutgers senior Adam Korsak, Boise State freshman James Ferguson-Reynolds and Colorado State redshirt freshman Paddy Turner are some of the players Ansell reaches out to.
As the Australian style of punting continues to make waves across various levels of competition, players from similar backgrounds are creating an outlet and community for one another as they all face challenges navigating the college football landscape.
"They're going through the same thing you are. It's tough, obviously," Ansell said. "It's good to sort of trade war stories and be able to live the same experience as somebody else."
As the Purdue football team has transitioned into fall training camp with its season opener inching ever closer, Ansell is building stronger relationships with his teammates and coaches.
Alongside fellow specialists Brendan Cropsey and Ben Freehill, Ansell has developed an affinity with the golf course. It's an escape from the football field and has helped the second-year punter continue to settle into his new life in West Lafayette.
Ansell and Cropsey are in each other's corner, but the two punters are competing for a starting role for the Boilermakers this upcoming season. Ansell is poised to earn the job, but he'll have to continue to believe in his own abilities in order to be a staple on special teams in 2022.
"He's worked very hard. And it's just gonna come down to when the reps are on the line, you got to produce," Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm said. "I feel confident that he can do that, but he has to feel confident, and he has to understand that's just how football works."
For Ansell, it's as simple as just knowing that when he receives a snap to punt, he's in control of the football. With a year of experience under his belt, he's now well equipped to handle both the physical and mental hurdles that come with being a college punter.
"At the end of the day, you just have to kick a ball and put yourself in the best position to succeed," Ansell said. "I think a lot of times last year I was beaten before I'd even go out on the field, to be honest with you. This year, I'm not feeling that at all."
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.