Former Melbourne rookie Cameron Johnston has been awarded the NCAA BIG10 Special Teams Player of the Week for his punting exploits for the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday morning.

Johnson had six punts averaging 39.8 yards, including the play of the game – a 55 yard bomb to seal victory for the Buckeyes over Wisconsin 31-24.

Crucially five of Johnson’s punts landed inside the 10 yard area, the ultimate result for a punter.

Johnson has been slowly building throughout his first five games this season, averaging a respectable 40 yards, although this was clearly his breakout game.

Johnson’s name is now up in lights on the college football scene, a remarkable achievement given he only made the transition to American football in early 2012.

He spent the 2011 season on Melbourne’s rookie list, but was delisted at the end of that season. On the advice of two junior teammates who had succesfully made the transition to Amercian football, Johnston signed with punting school Prokick in the pursuit of a college scholarship.

Read the full Cameron Johnston story

He finds himself on a four-year college scholarship with one of the top ranked football schools in the country and playing in front of more than 100 thousand fans most weeks.

On Saturday night (US time) Ohio State played its first night game for the season before a crowd of 105,826, but there was one in particular making Johnson particularly nervous.

NBA superstar, arguably the greatest athlete on the planet and pseudo favourite son of Ohio State, LeBron James (If he did attend college, but would have been a Buckeye) was keeping close watch on the sidelines and was seen chatting to Johnson as he warmed his kicking leg.

“Back home, you always watched him on TV, and to actually have him there was a great experience. A few years ago, playing back home, you’d never think you’d meet someone like that.

“Being here at Ohio State, you get all the opportunities nowhere else pretty much in the world you get those opportunities to do.”

The Buckeyes remain undefeated this season and if Johnson keeps pinning the opposition to the last line of defence with his cannon-like right leg he might find himself celebrating a National Championship with Lebron come the season’s end.

Meanwhile Scott Harding continues to be the Swisse Army Knife of college football – punting, receiving and returning for the Hawaii Warriors.

The Warriors are winless after four games but Harding continues to impress averaging 41 yards when punting and he has caught 16 passes for 150 yards as a receiver.