After three seasons in Happy Valley, Penn State football punter Riley Thompson is headed to the NFL draft.

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Thompson was relatively unknown before he started punting for Florida Atlantic in 2022. As an Owl, Thompson kicked 61 punts to an average of 45.4 yards and launched the longest punt of his collegiate career, 71 yards.

That stat line was enough to earn Thompson a transfer to Penn State for the 2023 season. In his first season as a Nittany Lion, he punted 51 times with an average of 45.6 yards and a long of 56 yards. Thompson’s junior year was more of the same, matching his sophomore total with 51 punts. His average dropped slightly, to 42.8 yards per punt, and his longest kick of the season was 63 yards.

Gabriel Nwosu took over the punting job for the Nittany Lions in 2025, and Thompson did not kick a single punt for Penn State in his senior season.

Measuring in at 6’1 and 230 pounds, Thompson possesses similar physical traits to a lot of the punters currently in the NFL. The question is whether he can keep up with the big legs in the league today. Thompson’s 42.8 average punt yardage in 2024 was 0.9 yards behind that of the shortest full-time punter in the NFL (Jamie Gillan of the New York Giants) that same year.

Thompson is not featured on the 2026 Consensus Big Board and will likely be a late-round selection or enter the league as an undrafted free agent.

The NFL Draft begins at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, and ends on Saturday, April 26, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. All seven rounds will be televised on ESPN and the NFL Network.