Owen went to primary school at Oberon Public before moving on to Stannies in Bathurst as a boarder, and from year 7 he was always the kicker in whatever rugby team in which he played.

Well-known former Wallaby, Marty Roebuck, was the attending physio for the Stannies rugby team and phoned Owen's father, Anthony, to ask if could take Owen to watch some Aussie rules kicking practice because he thought Owen had a talent for kicking.

When he was in year 12, Owen started to think about using his talents beyond school rugby.

"I contacted an organisation called Prokick Australia, which is run by [former Green Bay Packers punter] Nathan Chapman, who matches Australian boys with scholarships at American colleges as kickers and punters,” he said.

"I had to learn to kick the American ball, which is quite different from rugby. In rugby you kick from a tee; in gridiron, someone holds the ball on the ground as you attempt the kick. You only have a window of 1.3 seconds to kick. Also, the balls are a lot smaller and the sweet spot can be quite hard to find.”

Not being able to move down to Melbourne permanently for training with the Prokick organisation, he decided to enrol at Santa Barbara City College in California with the goal of getting scouted.

“I was fortunate enough to receive a full athletic scholarship offer from Prairie View A&M, where I have been their kicker and punter for the past two seasons,” he said.

Last season, Owen was named as the conference punter for the SWAC (South West Athletic Conference), and was also recognised by his coaches when he was named Special Teams Player of the Year for PVAMU. 

Owen initially had a tough time finding his feet at his new school, which is an historically black college (HBC).

"It was a real eye opener. The culture is very different. I was the only white student on the football team in my first season, and no one could understand me at all because of the different accent." 

His season opener against Texas Southern last year was the unveiling of Prairie View A&M’s new $61 million stadium. It was at capacity for that opening game, where he scored the first points in the new stadium with an opening field goal. 

He was also lucky enough to play at Kyle Field, which is the home stadium for Texas A&M. Although the result didn’t go Prairie View’s way, Owen said “playing in front of 100,000 against some of the best athletes in America was quite surreal”. 

“Playing against the likes of Myles Garrett, who was the number one draft pick in the recent draft, was pretty cool. Mum and Dad have hung that picture on the wall and tell everyone who he is.

“My parents Anthony and Deborah and sister Felicity came over last October and watched the State Fair Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas in front of a crowd of about 65,000 people.

“I don't think they could believe the size of the crowds at the game. They were blown away by the band and the cheer squads."

Owen plays in division 1 AA, which includes 130 teams. The winners in his conference go on to play in the African American national championship.

"The scholarship covers everything - food, accommodation, schooling and all aspects of football-related activities. It's just like the movies - you must keep up your grades to keep playing footy."

As well as studying, Owen trains four times a week and "Fridays we get on the bus or plane and set off for the game on Saturday".

This season will go from September through to the end of November, but the Panthers have aspirations of going to the National Championship, which is played the weekend before Christmas.

This upcoming season will be Owen’s third season as a Panther and he is looking forward to what the future holds. Their second game will be televised nationally on ESPN when they take on Sam Houston State on a Thursday night game in the second week in September. 

Owen said he will graduate from college next May and will look to start a Masters degree in kinesiology.

"I think the possibility of returning to rugby is not likely because I don’t like the running aspect. I’ll see where I’m at with American football when I finish my college career and evaluate my options.”