It's make or break for a batch of pro prospects, writes Matt Bungard
Australia may be on the verge of a golden year in the NFL draft as a host of prospects are set to learn their fates within the next week.
Jamie Keehn's road to a career in American football began with a set of circumstances that wouldn't seem out of place in a movie. 
"It was real random," Keehn said. "I grew up in Rockhampton, never really kicked a football. I played a little soccer as a kid. I moved to Ballarat and threw the javelin but blew my shoulder out. I was at the park on a Sunday with a mate just roosting them and thought, 'Yeah I'll come play a bit of footy'.
"I started roosting goals from 50 out and we're sitting in the club one night and one of my buddies goes: 'You can kick a ball pretty far, why don't you go play in the NFL?' "
Sure enough, just a couple of years after he was kicking a football in the park with no plans of throwing a javelin again, he was punting for college powerhouse Louisiana State.
"LSU invited me out for an official visit. They flew me out from Australia to see the campus, wined and dined me . . . I fell in love as soon as I came here. Everything was huge. The facilities are unlike anything I'd ever seen."
Keehn followed in the footsteps of compatriot Brad Wing, the Australian punter now playing in the NFL for the New York Giants.
"Brad had two great years here before he left for the league and that comparison is always gonna be there," Keehn said. "Like whoever plays shortstop for the Yankees has to follow Derek Jeter.
"You get that comparison, but we're two completely different punters, players and people, so it's a bit hard to make the comparison. I know Brad pretty well, we stay in contact and we've worked out a little bit over the past few months together. It's been good."
Like many Australian hopefuls before him, Keehn's path to the college circuit was facilitated through Prokick Australia, a company headed by former AFL star and one-time Green Bay Packers punter Nathan Chapman.
"I linked up with Nathan and started training with him and 12 months later I was at LSU."
Jordan Berry, the punter for the Pittsburgh Steelers, also got his start through Prokick, but it was another organisation, OzPunt, that steered Maryland kicker Brad Craddock towards an NFL dream.
"I watched Ben Graham and Sav Rocca in the AFL and, when they came over here, I thought, 'I can kick a big ball' and gave it a crack," Craddock said.
Craddock's story is slightly different from that of most Australians in the sport: he was originally signed up as a punter, but an injury had him switch to kicker and he quickly became one of the most accurate field goal exponents in the country.
The die-hard Adelaide Crows fan played "a bit of soccer in primary" school but, even with a predominantly Aussie rules skill set, won the 2014 Lou Groza Award for being the best place kicker in the nation.
He speaks fondly of a game-winning field goal against Penn State, a 43-yard shot that gave the Terrapins their first win over their rivals since 1961, a kick that would have pleased his coach and former NFL legend Matt Stover.
The agribusiness student spoke highly of fellow Australian Tom Hackett, another to come out of the college system this year.
"Hackett's a great kid. I saw him at the combine . . . He's a funny character, a great guy. I hope he gets a good shot at it."
Hackett's performances in college for Utah have been incredible. He was the winner of the Ray Guy Award for the best punter in college football two years running, named the best punter ever in his athletic conference's Team of the Century.
Georgia Tech's defensive lineman Adam Gotsis is predicted to be the highest-drafted Australian prospect, even after an ACL injury sidelined him late in the the 2015 season.
Other talents include Alexander Kinal, punter for Wake Forest, Lachlan Edwards, punter for Sam Houston State and Baylor University offensive lineman Blake Muir.