Temple’s Dante Atton recently played his first football game, ever. But it was

It is 4 a.m. Sunday morning, Sept. 3, in the Atton household in Melbourne, Australia.

The family is typically sound asleep around this time. However, on this particular morning, a collegiate American football game turned the normally quiet living area into a “crazy” atmosphere.

Meryl Atton, her husband, and their four children crowded their L-shaped couch to watch her son, Temple punter Dante Atton, in his first-ever American football game.

“We were cheering and screaming at the TV,” Meryl said during a recent phone conversation. “We were buzzing, to be honest.”

Atton’s journey to Temple began at a young age — more than 10,000 miles away. With his family by his side, Atton is looking to turn his NFL dreams into a reality.

Atton grew up in the suburb of Cranbourne East with his mother, father and four siblings in a “loud” and “fun” household. Meryl Atton described her son as being easygoing, but also a very driven child.

“When he puts his mind to something, he’ll achieve whatever it is he puts his mind to,” she said.

So, how did Atton end up playing American football at Temple? His journey to North Philadelphia began after seeing the Aussie version of the sport when he was just 6 years old.

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‘It’s changed my life’

After watching his cousin’s Australian rules football match, Atton knew he wanted to play. Although she was concerned, Meryl granted him permission — and little Dante was on the field by the next game.

His uncle and former Australian Football League player, Bert Andrews, just so happened to be the coach of his youth team.

“He taught me everything I know about the sport,” Atton said. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to come to America because I wouldn’t have had the skills to kick a football.”

Atton continued to play local Aussie football through his 20th birthday, while simultaneously working full-time as a forklift driver for Terra Mater, an Australian flooring company.

In May 2022, Atton’s dissatisfaction with his current situation led him to make a life-altering decision —joining Prokick Australia, the organization founded by former NFL punter Nathan Chapman and kicker John Smith in 2007 to help train, guide and transition Australian athletes into kickers and punters from the college to professional levels of the American game.

Similarly to Atton, Prokick is responsible for jump-starting the career of several Aussie punters, including Houston Texans punter Cameron Johnston and Saskatchewan Roughriders punter Adam Korsak.

“It’s changed my life,” Atton said. “If I wasn’t in Prokick, I’d probably still be a forklift driver working 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.”

While at Prokick, Atton worked closely with former Rutgers punter, Tim Gleeson.

Gleeson works with many athletes who have never punted an American football before, so he can tell…