Oliver Straw Was Done With College Football. Then UAB Called.

By Steve Irvine

October 2 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

Oliver Straw thought he was done with college football after his finishing his fourth and final season at West Virginia in 2025.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Australian was already working on pursuing the next step in his punting career. He participated in West Virginia’s Pro Day. He worked toward getting noticed by NFL and UFL scouts. He took a short break to go back home to see his family. He came back and continued to work out, hoping the phone would ring. He liked where he was physically and felt ready for the opportunity.

So how in the world did he end up at UAB less than a week before the Blazers began the 2026 season?

It began with a series of lawsuits seeking a fifth year for college athletes who began their career in 2022. Straw, who was fresh off a successful four years at West Virginia, where he had 192 punts in 49 games, talked to a lawyer about trying to get one final college season.

“It's definitely been a weird feeling, just the whole unknown of it,” Straw said after practice earlier this week. “You know, it's new for everyone. It's new for the attorneys, it's new for the players obviously and I think the NCAA as well. So it's just been weird navigating that and kind of going through it all and having everything kind of being gray area until it's not.”

Truth is it still is a gray area.

“I've still got my court case coming up where the judge will put pen to paper and make it an official thing for the rest of the year,” Straw said. “Until that day, it's all kind of up in the air.”

It sort of fits how his life has been for the last month or so. Straw didn’t find a home at UAB until late August and didn’t arrive in Birmingham until less than a week before the Blazers kicked off the season in Illinois. Badger Hargett was the team’s starting punter heading into the season and the transfer from LSU punted the ball twice for an average of 48.50 yards per punt against Illinois. The Blazers didn’t punt in the second week against Louisiana-Monroe and Straw was the starter against Louisiana and Navy.

All of that came with little chance to catch his breath but considering he began his college football career about 10,000 miles away from home he is used to handling the uncomfortable.

“Definitely it prepares you but I feel like this situation's very similar to how the NFL would be if you were a free agent,” Straw said. “That's kind of how I treated it mentally. I was a free agent signing somewhere, if you want to call it that. Kind of treating it as if I've got a job to do and they're bringing me here because they have confidence in me. I'm doing them a disservice if I'm not prepared and ready and there's no reason why I shouldn't be prepared and ready. It's what I've been wanting to do.”

Before we dive further into that, how did he come to a point where he wanted to chase a football dream in the United States?

“I'm a dual citizen,” said Straw. “I was born in the States (Hoboken, N.J.) and moved back to Australia when I was very young. I grew up there and kind of always had a dream of coming and playing college sports. Didn't know it was going to be for football. I was a big basketball fan growing up but football ended up being the thing that I was good at and punting obviously. I trained with Prokick Australia throughout the last two years of high school and got the opportunity to go to West Virginia. It was always a dream of mine to kind of play at the highest level of whatever sport it was that I ended up choosing and have been very fortunate to be able to do that.”

That doesn’t mean the adjustment was simple.

“I remember when I first came over, it was obviously a massive culture shock,” said Straw, who grew up in Melbourne, Australia. “You know, being on a college campus and Morgantown's very much a college town. So it was very different. But all great experiences. Met some of my greatest friends there, had some great coaches and had a lot of people there to support me and welcome me to the States. Had some good people supporting me and showing the way. At the end of the day, we're not too different, Americans and Australians.”

Now, he’s busy adjusting to life at UAB. Through two weeks, he is averaging 41.8 yards per punt on his nine punts. This week’s matchup against Samford at Protective Stadium is extra special for Straw and his teammates because they honor Smile-A-Mile and raise awareness for childhood cancer.

“I think the Smile-A-Mile game is a great thing,” Straw said. “It's very touching and it's very humbling to listen to the stories of the people are going through the real problems and fighting the battle every single day. I think it's a great cause. What the people at Smile-A-Mile are doing is awesome and I'm just happy to be a part of it and put football into some perspective for the people who need it the most.”

It also carries Straw back to Morgantown, where he developed a friendship with Landen Jaggie, who began his fight with cancer at the age of 16 in 2022. Straw learned about Jaggie’s fight through a friend and not only began a friendship with Jaggie but also set up a fund to raise money with each of his punts that were downed inside the 20-yard line.

Jaggie lost his battle with cancer at the age of 19 in October of 2025 but remains an inspiration to Straw and many others.

“I always go back and look at photos and videos from the Zoom calls that we had together and stuff,” Straw said. “It hits home for me  to know that someone that I built a relationship with was struggling so much. Ultimately, it definitely sticks with you and makes a lasting impact on you as a human being.”