Eric Morris Tells Hilarious Story About His First Australian Punter

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STILLWATER — Back in 2018, Eric Morris told his punter to do something someone should have told Bob Stoops four years earlier: punt the ball out of bounds.

That was Morris’ first season as a head coach, as his Incarnate Word Cardinals were in a Southland Conference road game against Abilene Christian.

Incarnate Word led 44-34 with less than two minutes to play when Morris called a timeout and went over to Australian punter David Balcomb.

“I told our punter on the sideline, ‘Hey, kick it out of bounds. Don’t kick it to this returner. The only thing that can kill us in this game right now is a return for a touchdown where we’re at.'”

Sounded simple enough, but what Morris wasn’t taking into account is that Balcomb didn’t grow up watching American football.

“He literally catches it, he walks straight sideways, minus-14 yard punt straight into the stands. I swear to anything.

“You can see me on tape, I fell to my knees, like holy smokes. So, I guess there’s a rule in rugby where if you punt it out of bounds, something happens. I’m not smart enough to know all that stuff.”

For what it’s worth, it was actually a punt of -18 yards. Couldn’t have been great for the ole average.

It ended up not mattering, as Incarnate Word still closed the game out and got a big win on the road en route to earning a share of the Southland Conference title in Morris’ first season.

Morris said when he got back up to his phone after the game, it wasn’t a pretty sight. But that was a lesson learned, as Morris now has another Australian punter in his first season at OSU in Stephen F. Austin transfer Lachie Pozzobon, who Morris said is doing great. But you can guarantee if Morris finds himself in a similar spot with Pozzobon, he’ll probably be a bit more specific.

“I had, like, some of the worst text messages I’ve ever had in my life of how dumb of a coach I was, especially from my family that were watching this game live on TV,” Morris said. “So, I’ve learned that you have to explain sometimes football rules.”