On Tuesday morning (AEST) Ohio State will face Notre Dame for the college football national championship with more than 30 million people watching, and two AFL scions will be right in the middle of it.

Australians have found a home as punters in American football in recent years with a host of former Aussie rules players hitting the gridiron in the land of the free.

The Buckeyes’s Joe McGuire, son of former Collingwood president Eddie, and James Rendell, son of Fitzroy champion Matt, of the Fighting Irish are the latest cabs off the rank and they’ll square off for college football supremacy with all of America watching.

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“If you told me I’d be doing this two or three years ago I’m not sure I would believe you. It’s fantastic,” McGuire told the ABC Sport Daily podcast.

“Ohio State and Notre Dame are the two biggest college teams in America by far. They’re the biggest fanbases with, in the best way possible, the most feral fans.

“The passion is unbelievable. It’s the most expensive National Championship game ever to get into, tickets start at $1800 US.

“The average ticket price is about $2800, so just getting in is ridiculous.”

McGuire’s journey to the pinnacle of college sports has been a long time coming and the 24-year old put in the hard yards to end up in Columbus on one of the best programs in America.

“I loved footy my whole life, played it my whole life, I wasn’t particularly special at it but I was a decent kick,” McGuire said.

“One of my best mates came up to me during COVID and said ‘there’s this thing called ProKick Australia and they send people over to America to punt’.

“I looked into it, reached out to Nathan Chapman and John Smith, who run ProKick, and I went down and had a kick with Chappy at a local ground.

“I didn’t realise it at the time, but it was a try out and he texted me the next day saying there was enough to work with there.”

Punting might seem simple to the outsider but there’s more to it than just hoofing the ball down field.

Once McGuire’s talent was identified, he had to transform his body physically, so he linked up with renowned strength coach Dave Tuinaauvai and got to work.

“At our peak I was doing about ten sessions with him a week to get big enough, because it’s a pretty brutal sport and even though I’m the punter if I get hit I know about it. I put on about 20kgs, to look the part and get a stronger leg,” McGuire said.

“After two-ish years of punting back in Australia, Ohio State reached out to ProKick and Chappy said ‘we’ve got a guy for you’ and the rest is history.

“I’ve always loved sport and watched a lot of gridiron every summer, I’d watch the playoffs and the Super Bowl with my dad and my brother.

“It became something I fell in love with and I decided I had to do this and I couldn’t leave any stone unturned, I dedicated my life to it for two years.”

McGuire headed to Ohio, won the punting job ahead of two others and hasn’t looked back since.

Ohio State is one of the most storied programs in the country, with eight national titles to their name, and with over 100,000 people regularly attending their home games the passion can be overwhelming.

“It’s like the entire university is an AFL cheer squad, everyone feels part of it because they are — they’re part of the success. Having 100,000 people at the game all making noise on third down to distract the opposition, it all helps. It’s like it’s a tribe,” McGuire said.

“(Punters) aren’t at the level of quarterbacks or wide receivers, they’re like prime Gary Ablett, but when you’re sitting next to someone in class and they find out you’re on the football team they think it’s pretty cool.

“I had some mates in a class last year, they decided they’d stir me up and they all stood up and started clapping when I walked in after my first game.”

McGuire didn’t broadcast how famous his father is back home — although his teammates eventually found out and had plenty of fun with it — but both his parents will be on hand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for Tuesday’s match.

“Him and mum came over in mid-November and they’ve gone to every game since. My brother was over then as well and he’ll be at the National Championship too,” McGuire said.

“In the home and away season, walking out to 105,000 people and looking over to see mum and dad in the crowd, it’s just fantastic.”

McGuire harbours aspirations to make the NFL but is totally focused on Tuesday, where either he or Rendell will become just the third Australian to win a college football title.

“James and I met each other through ProKick and we went to the Collingwood-Carlton game earlier this year and sat together,” McGuire said.

“We joked about how we might play against each other one day but when the season started we were on opposite sides of the draw, so it was ‘good luck mate, hope you win this week.’

“It got to a couple of weeks ago and we realised we might see each other in the big one. We’ve wished each other luck, but we hope the other’s team come second.”