Senior offensive lineman Dominick Puni has had one of the more interesting college football journeys, playing four seasons at Division II Central Missouri before spending his last two years at Kansas. He made All-Big 12 Honorable Mention last year, helping pave the way toward receiving an invite to the Senior Bowl after this season.
“It was pretty cool,” Puni said. “Got the Shrine bowl first, and then it was like two days later, they're like, Senior Bowl Is coming, too. I mean, you dream… It's like when I was growing up, I always watched the Senior Bowl, like one on ones or something. Now like the fact that I'm going to be there in Mobile, it's crazy. It's surreal, but it's things you dream as a kid, and if you work hard enough, I mean, it's crazy.”
Puni’s journey has been a long one, and his family has put an extra emphasis on showing up for his games during his last year of college football.
"They said senior year, they're coming to everything,” Puni said. “They don't want to miss anything. The away games are really just my parents, but every home game, it's like at least ten family members come through. Yeah, I love it.”
He says that his brother and nephew are the loudest ones there for him, and they have grown a love for the team.
As Puni gets ready for his final game inside of David Booth Memorial Stadium, he thinks about how quickly the two years have gone since he’s come here.
“I just think how crazy it is that it's already the last one,” Puni said. “I mean, I got here last year and you just never feel like you're going to be done playing college football. But obviously after this week and be done playing in the booth. I'm looking forward to it, though. Obviously, the biggest game is the last game for us.”
As that biggest game approaches, Puni is ready to block for whoever lines up at quarterback on Saturday. Puni, who started his college career in 2018, was impressed with the poise of true freshman Cole Ballard.
“Obviously, his dad being a GM and everything, I think he's been around big games, big time football, so he's very used to it,” Puni said. “He looked like it was just like another day for him. He came out on the offense in the huddle. He was loud, he was leading us, and we knew that coming through practice, he did the same thing out in practice. So as soon as Bean unfortunately went down, I mean, we're confident in 15 to come out there,”
Ballard won over many Kansas fans when he lowered his shoulder to pick up a couple first downs, which worried Puni, but excited him at the same time.
“Well, the first thing, anytime our quarterback lowers the shoulder, it's like a worry for me,” Puni said. “But when the game's on the line for the first down, I'm like, yeah, go get it.”
For Puni and the rest of the senior class, they are playing the last game at the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium that stands right now. He’s confident in the legacy he’s left behind in his two years at Kansas that when he comes back to the new version of the stadium, the product on the field is good.
“It feels good knowing that we started something here and we're leaving it in good hands,” Puni said. “I can't wait till two or three years, come back and just see a whole new Booth. It's going to be crazy. I look forward to it, though. I know they're going to kill it even after the seniors leave, but we got to handle business Saturday.”
