Like one of his booming punts, Adam Korsak’s football career has travelled a long way.
Beginning from Australia, through Rutgers and now with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the punter’s football journey has evolved into a global tour.
This week, Korsak will handle the punting duties for the Roughriders in their week 1 contest in Edmonton since Kaare Vedvik is out with a hip injury.
The Australian player experienced a quick transition after being picked by the Roughriders in the first round of the 2023 Canadian Football League (CFL) Global Draft last month. However, he feels the organization has made the process as smooth as possible.
“It’s been awesome since I got here, training camp in Saskatoon to now the first week it’s been really good, a really good coaching staff, good boys and enjoy being around the team.”
Before Korsak made his way north of the border in May, he had a couple of stops at the minicamps of the National Football League’s (NFL) Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers.
The punter felt that he learned a lot from his short visit with the two NFL teams.
“The two coaching staffs out there were good with me, at the combine, at the Reese’s Bowl, so I enjoyed being with them for a couple of days and I kind of learning how they approach things, it was a very good experience for me.”
Collegiately, the 25-year-old enjoyed a prolific career at Rutgers. During his time as a Scarlet Knight, Korsak would establish NCAA records for career punts, career punting yards and single-season net punting average.
He appreciated his time in New Brunswick, New Jersey and the coaches that he worked with there.
“Especially this last one with Coach (Greg) Schiano and I can’t wait to get back there and support the boys.”
Korsak has been a fan of American football since a young age, but due to time differences, he had to watch it at a different time than fans in North America.
“Growing up in Australia, Sunday night football and Monday night football would be on Monday mornings and Tuesday mornings so I use to stay home and watch that before school.”
The Melbourne product had a very athletic background that helped create his love for athletics.
“I come from a sporting family, we love our sports.”
One of the sports Korsak competed in from age six to 18 was Australian Rules Football.
“It’s a very dynamic game, there’s eight guys on the field, 22 in total, you know the positioning of soccer and the contact of rugby and to pass the ball you have to punt it, so it’s a great game to watch ”
Along with watching the NFL and NCAA, Korsak did watch some CFL. The Roughriders were one of the first teams that caught his eye, with a fellow countryman, Josh Bartel serving as the team’s punter. (2014, 2016-18).
Even though he has only been a member of the green and white locker room for a few weeks, Korsak feels it’s a positive situation between him, Vedvik, Brett Lauther and long-snapper Jorgen Hus.
“Brett and Kaare are great, for me they’re welcoming me in and just great to be around in the locker room, not even from just a football perspective, just being around the boys type of thing and obviously Jorgen being the long snapper here for so long, great bunch of guys and the coaching staff is great as well, so I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
620 CKRM have full coverage of tomorrow’s season opener in Edmonton between the Roughriders and the Elks. Countdown to Kickoff begins at 2:00.
Michael Ball and Luc Mullinder will be at Commonwealth Stadium with the opening kickoff at 5:00.
