Dunnachie handles pressure at combine

It was an ordinary job interview except for the national coverage and every NFL team watching every muscle twitch.

"The pressure was on," former Hawaii punter Alex Dunnachie said of his performance at the NFL scouting combine over the weekend in Indianapolis. "I was nervous. I didn’t think I was going to catch a snap."

Dunnachie was grouped with Louisiana Tech’s Ryan Allen, two-time winner of the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best college punter.

"As soon as you get that first one out of the way, life’s good again," Dunnachie said. "Your body takes over."

Dunnachie was impressive on his 14 punts. Each traveled at least 47 yards from the line of scrimmage. Six of his punts had hang times of at least 5 seconds. His best punt was airborne for 5.35 seconds. Dunnachie’s goal is a minimum of 4.5 seconds.

"I would have liked to have seen a returner back there to see what the effect would be," Dunnachie said.

There is growing conjecture Dunnachie will be selected in the NFL Draft in April.

"It was fun," Dunnachie said of the combine. "It was stressful. It was exhausting. But the lifetime experience was good. It’s all about competition. How are you going to react? Are you going to be the guy who steps up or the guy who falls in line?"

The punting session was held in Lucas Oil Stadium, a domed facility in downtown Indianapolis.

"In conditions when it’s windy, you can mess around a little bit," Dunnachie said. "They held it indoors. There was no wind, no excuses. There’s no reason you shouldn’t have crushed it. You do exactly what you’re trained to do."

Dunnachie had spent two months specifically working on technique (the drop and leg swing) and stance (body, hips and shoulders straight, head over the ball).

"It’s like a golf swing, how you have to do the exact same thing," Dunnachie said. "It’s all about the technique. If one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong."

Dunnachie said he formed a bond with the six other punters who were at the combine.

"The thing with specialists is we’re pretty easy going," Dunnachie said. "The guys are great. I met a lot of guys who are going to be friends of a lifetime. (The combine is) not a place to make enemies. We’re all friendly, and we help each other out, and we get each other ready."