The Iowa football team may have found its next punter in Bristol, England, native Jonnny Mullings, who recently accepted a grayshirt offer from the Hawkeyes.

He is set to enroll on scholarship in the fall of 2011.

The 6-4, 215-pound punter’s desire to play for the Hawkeyes was sparked in the fall of 2006 in Ottumwa, Iowa, when he was an exchange student. Playing for his high school junior varsity squad, the left-footed Mullings booted an 85-yard punt.

After he and his parents moved to Canberra, Australia, the next year, Mullings continued to play football, punting for a 45.1 yard average. He never forgot about his dream of playing college football in the United States.

“With the connection to Ottumwa, the coaches at Iowa, and the whole atmosphere there, it’s just perfect for me,” Mullings told Rivals.com. “If I went to any other college, I’d have that feeling of wishing I was at Iowa.”

— by Travis Varner