Report: Allegations of Fraud Arise Against ProKick Australia

According to a report by Fox Sports San Antonio, there could be immigration fraud being committed by Pro Kick Australia, a training institution in Australia for prospective college football players.

A 7-month investigation by Fox Sports San Antonio dove into “troubling allegations” of ineligible players taking scholarships from prospective college student-athletes.

Allegations included a student-athlete being represented as a player with four seasons of eligibility despite burning eligibility in Australia and a student-athlete having an altered transcript in order to meet NCAA standards. There are potential NCAA violations at stake.

It remains to be seen what will happen, if anything, regarding the investigation in ProKick, but Pitt has brought in a couple of ProKick players.

Kirk Christodoulou committed to Pitt in 2016 and spent five seasons with the program. He emerged as a multi-season starter.

Christodoulou played 52 games at Pitt and attempted 237 punts over his career, averaging 42.4 yards per punt with 84 punts inside the 20-yard line and 50 punts of at least 50 yards.

Sam Vander Haar, who signed with Pitt in the class of 2022, was brought in to replace Christodoulou. But after one largely unsuccessful season, he entered the transfer portal and now punts at BYU.

In 11 games during the 2022 season, he averaged 38.5 yards per punt on 31 attempts — with just one 50-yard punt and 11 kicks pinned inside the 20-yard line.

Pitt has been a program that hasn’t been afraid to target players outside the United States, landing Haba Baldonado (Italy), Jared Wayne (Canada) Moritz Schmoranzer (Germany) and Akrim Elnagmi (England) in recent seasons. And while neither Pitt nor the Australian players are being viewed as having committed violations, it’s something to watch with ProKick.