Max Duffy pretends to punt and fools his opponent. Photo / Supplied
Max Duffy pretends to punt and fools his opponent. Photo / Supplied
Kentucky won't soon forget Max Duffy.
The former Fremantle Dockers AFL player had already put together perhaps the best career by a punter in Wildcats' history - and he produced one final piece of magic in his farewell game.
At a key moment in Kentucky's 23-21 Gator Bowl win against North Carolina State, Duffy sold the dummy to turn what looked like being a blocked punt into a fair catch inside the 20.
"That play by Max Duffy is one of the coolest things I have ever seen a punter do," Kentucky sports radio host Matt Jones tweeted.
Duffy, who played three games across the 2014 and 2015 AFL seasons with Fremantle, said his instincts shone through after some awful blocking by Kentucky's special teams.
"We'd done a bit of homework in the week leading up on one of the guys that came after it. He blocked a fair few punts during the year. The plan was to block him. Apparently we didn't want to do that," told RSN Breakfast.
"I knew he was going to be coming after it pretty hard and it was just a spur of the moment (decision) to go back to the footy days.
"When I went off to the sideline I was pretty p***ed off to be honest because we didn't do the job that we wanted. But then I got to the sideline and all the guys were going crazy and telling me 'You're going to be on ESPN' and 'That's definitely top 10 (on SportsCenter)'.
"I was caught off guard because I was more worried about the bad job we'd done with the punt. Since then I've got a fair few messages, which is funny because it's something we seen every weekend in Australia [in numerous codes]."
Max Duffy pretends to punt and fools his opponent. Photo / Supplied
The move is often seen in rugby when a first-five or fullback has to side-step an opposing player before kicking the ball downfield.
Duffy won the Ray Guy Award as the top punter in college football in 2019 and was one of two punters selected to this year's Senior Bowl along with another Australian, James Smith who played for Cincinnati and also had a highlight play last week when he ran for a first down on a fake punt play.
He is only one class away from completing a master degree in sports psychology but that profession will likely have to wait.
The 27-year-old from Western Australia is signing with an agent today and is sure to hear his name called in the NFL Draft – even if his latest highlight isn't exactly what they're looking for.
"That was my last game so it was good to go out on a good note and get a highlight in," he said. "Unfortunately in the NFL they don't let the (punters) run around like they do in college, so they'll probably see it and they'll laugh but it doesn't really correlate to (what NFL scouts are looking for)."
Can we clone Max Duffy so he can play every position
