Tom Hornsey (born 17 February 1989) is a former Australian-born punter. Hornsey was the

Ray Guy Award The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Foo ...

winner in 2013, recognized as the best college football punter in America.

Australian rules football

Hornsey is from

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

, and played in the championship of the

Geelong Football League The Geelong Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria, Australia. It is widely regarded as the highest standard Australian rules football league in regional Victoria, with several former AFL players n ...

. In 2008, he was listed on the roster of the

Geelong VFL Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2 ...

of the VFL.

College career

Hornsey attended the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, where he was the starting punter for the

Memphis Tigers football The Memphis Tigers football team represents the University of Memphis in college football in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The Tigers play in the American Athletic Conference as an all-sports member. They play home games at Si ...

team from 2010 to 2013. As a senior in 2013, he had 62 punts for 2,800 yards, an average of 45.32 yards per punt. He was a recognized as consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from the American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, and ''USA Today'', and won the Ray Guy Award recognizing him as the best college football punter in the nation. He finished his four-year college career with 297 punts for 12,815 yards, with an average punt of 43.1 yards.

Professional career

Hornsey went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft. Tom was with the New York Jets during rookie minicamp. On 11 August 2014, Hornsey signed with the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys released Hornsey on 26 August 2014. Hornsey had an average punt distance of 50.2 yards, the best in NFL preseason, with a 63 yard long, in 2 game (5 punts) with Dallas. Hornsey had workouts with both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers either during or after the 2014 season. Hornsey signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent on 19 February 2015. Hornsey was cut by the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday, 1 September 2015 as part of the first wave of NFL roster cuts in order for each team to get down to the required 75 players.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornsey, Tom 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Geelong Geelong Falcons players American football punters Memphis Tigers football players Dallas Cowboys players Australian players of American football All-American college football players Footballers who switched code