Indiana football didn’t land a transfer Tuesday after earning nine commitments across the previous two days. However, the Hoosiers secured a special teams ace Wednesday.
Former University of Hawai’i at Mānoa punter Billy Gowers pledged to the Cream and Crimson, according to 247Sports. Gowers spent his freshman season with the Rainbow Warriors before announcing his intention to enter the portal Dec. 25.
The 29-year-old Gowers, who hails from Melbourne, Australia, spent five years playing professional Australian rules football in the Australian Football League and was the league’s top goal kicker in 2018. He then spent time in the Victorian Football League, where he was its leading goal kicker in 2024.
Gowers first touched an American football in August 2024. According to a Hawai’i Athletics profile story last August, Gowers had a “little kick at the park” in Melbourne, Australia, where he booted balls with the owner and head coach of Prokick Australia — an academy that trains Australians for college football. Current Indiana punter Mitch McCarthy previously spent time at the academy, as well.
Gowers punted 49 times for 2,266 yards — 46.2 yards per punt — across 13 games in 2025. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Gowers’ average yardage per punt is over six yards greater than McCarthy’s this season for Indiana.
Gowers has three seasons of eligibility remaining and will presumably be McCarthy’s successor on special teams. Gowers, who will be 30 years old when the season begins, is the 10th transfer to commit to the Hoosiers in the current portal cycle, joining four on offense and five on defense.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
