Aussie primed for college gridiron decider

Cameron Johnston says there were a few odd looks when he first walked into the Ohio State University football team's locker room.

There's only one thing that terrorises Australian punter Cameron Johnston more than 200cm tall, 130kg monsters running at him as he attempts to boot a gridiron ball upfield.

It's when the 22-year-old from Geelong picks up a phone and orders a home-delivery pizza or calls a cab.

Johnston is one of the stars of the Ohio State University football team and let's just say there aren't too many other Australian accents in his new home city of Columbus.

"It's when I say the number eight," Johnston laughed in an interview with AAP.

That's a problem for Johnston as his home address has an eight in it.

"You try to order a pizza or a cab on the phone and they ask you about five or six times for my address and, in the end, I just get one of my friends and say, 'Can you get on here and order it for me?'," he said.

"They don't understand a word I'm saying."

On the football field, there's no lost-in-translation moments for Johnston.

The US media has designated him one of the Buckeyes' keys to defeating the short-priced favourite University of Oregon Ducks in American college football's national championship game on Monday (Tuesday 3.30pm AEDT).

A television audience of more than 40 million is expected to tune in to watch the game played in front of 80,000 screaming fans inside the usual home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, the indoor AT&T Stadium in Texas.

Almost 30 million watched Johnston and his Buckeyes upset the number one-ranked University of Alabama last week.

"That was ridiculous when someone told me 28 million watched," Johnston said "It's kind of hard for people back in Australia to understand."

Just as the Buckeyes, who are relying on third-string quarterback Cardale Jones after injury struck the top two starters, overcame the odds to make college football's equivalent of the Super Bowl, Johnston probably shouldn't be at AT&T Stadium.

The former Geelong St Joseph's College schoolboy's aim was to play in the AFL and, in the 2010 draft, the Melbourne Demons selected the athletic forward with the huge boot.

But, Johnston did not play a senior game in 2011, was delisted and he decided to join former AFL and NFL player Nathan Chapman's Prokick Australia program that turns Aussies into American football punters.

Johnston, with his thinning red hair, funny accent and standing just 181cm tall and weighing 80kg, received a few odd looks when he first walked into the Buckeye locker room.

"It was a bit of a shock to them and I couldn't get over the size of some of my teammates," he said.

"There were 18-year-olds who were 140kg, 150kg and six foot seven or six foot eight tall.

"But, I got along with them all great straight away.

"The culture within the team is really strong and everyone is so close."


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Source: AAP


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