Nevada kicker Jacob Fernandez has made a rare athletic transition from soccer to American college football, scoring the Wolf Pack’s only points last week against No. 22-ranked New Mexico with a 32-yard field goal.
Most Australian players entering the college football ranks arrive with backgrounds in rugby or Australian rules football, which naturally translate to punting. Fernandez, however, grew up playing soccer as a goalkeeper due to a half-Spanish, half-Australian heritage, reaching the second level of the Australian soccer pyramid and playing in Spain before his shoulder issues prompted a change in athletic pursuits.
After stepping away from soccer, Fernandez enrolled at Prokick Australia, the country’s primary training pipeline for athletes transitioning to specialists in American college football. While the program predominantly trains former Australian rules football players, Fernandez joined as a soccer goalkeeper whose kicking motion closely mirrored field-goal kicking rather than punting.
Transition from Soccer to College Football
Fernandez spent 18 months in Melbourne training three or four days a week at Prokick, funding his preparation by working at a running store and living off his savings. When Nevada lost punter Bailey Ettridge to Oregon via transfer this offseason, the coaching staff contacted Prokick for a punter and ultimately secured both a punter and a kicker.
Nevada's Jacob Fernandez is one of four Australian-born kickers on FBS rosters. He's the only one to make a field goal this season. Here's how the 24-year-old freshman made his way to the Wolf Pack. https://t.co/AWGIQgKGxP
Fernandez and fellow newcomer Ewan Baulch joined the Wolf Pack at 24 years old. Alongside returning kicker Joe McFadden—who spent time working on Wall Street between college stints—Nevada features one of the oldest special teams units in the country.
“We’ve got a little bit of an older room with a couple of us from 2002,” Jacob Fernandez said with a smile.
With McFadden nursing a quad injury, Fernandez stepped into the starting kicker role last week against New Mexico. The 6-foot-6, 215-pound specialist converted his first career field-goal attempt from 32 yards out, handled kickoff duties with seven touchbacks on 13 attempts, and recorded a solo tackle against the Lobos.
“I don’t remember a lot of it to be honest,” Fernandez said of his first field-goal attempt. “It went very, very quickly. It was a quick moment.”
Coaches evaluated Fernandez via FaceTime and remote workouts
Due to the distance between Reno and Melbourne, Fernandez’s recruitment involved no official visits or in-person scouting. Nevada special teams coach Parker Henry and assistant BJ Robertson evaluated him via a FaceTime call while assistant coach Johnny supervised a workout at a local park.
“We were just at the park that we train at, kicking on some dodgy-looking posts,” Fernandez said.
“We kick on arena posts back home to have a little bit of a narrower target, make it look a little more impressive as a selling point. It’s literally our coach, Johnny, standing there with the phone, Parker’s on FaceTime, just telling me where to go, probably a couple kickoffs. And a lot of film getting sent as well. I had a quick chat with Coach Henry and on the 5th of December, I got a phone call from him and Coach BJ saying, ‘Look, we think we want you.’ It was very, very quick from there.”
Fernandez is one of only four Australia-born kickers on an FBS roster this season, alongside Cade Hechter of UTEP, David Barker of New Mexico State, and Michael Sarikizis of Nebraska. He is the only player among that quartet to attempt a field goal so far this year.
“We’ve definitely had boys over here,” Fernandez said. “Last year, we had a kicker at UT Martin. He had a good season there, and he’s actually at UTEP now. My friend at New Mexico State played well last year as well. We just don’t have that same kind of drive as we do with the punters, so I think now we’re getting a little bit more of a flood of us coming over. There’s a few more boys that should get over here next year, and then we’ll see.”
Beyond athletics, Fernandez sought an education funded by a scholarship, noting that college football has provided a welcome mental challenge despite the demanding schedule. While the day-to-day practice involvement differs from his time as a soccer goalkeeper, he said that the mental burden remains similar.
“Goalkeeping is very much a position where you can do everything right and then make one mistake, like missing one field goal after you make 10, and you’ll get scrutinized a little bit,” Fernandez said.
Reflecting on his first season in the United States, Fernandez pointed to Nevada’s game last month at UCLA’s Rose Bowl as a personal highlight. Beyond its status as a historic American football venue, the stadium previously hosted the 1994 men’s World Cup final and the 1999 women’s World Cup final.
“All the football guys over here, their dream is playing in the Rose Bowl,” Fernandez said.
“I had a little look on Google beforehand and found the ’94 World Cup final was played there. Just seeing some of the players that played there from Brazil and Italy, I was kind of mind-blown that I was on the same field. Little things like that you’d probably take for granted if you don’t stop for a second and have a look around.”
