USC punter Ben Griffiths isn't often mentioned in the conversation when the Trojans' NFL draft prospects are discussed.

The talk is usually about surging star wide receiver Drake London, obviously, and whether defensive end/outside linebacker Drake Jackson can also climb into the first round. There's the debate about quarterback Kedon Slovis' draft stock after this season, and whether guys like running back Keaontay Ingram, cornerback Chris Steele or left guard Andrew Vorhees will try to make the jump to the next level.

But Trojans special teams coordinator Sean Snyder, for one, believes that Griffiths has put himself firmly on that radar as well.

"If he's not a draftable punter, I don't know who is," Snyder said this week. "There's a lot of good punters out there, but as far as what he can do with the football and the control he has, at the end of the day I find it hard to believe you'll find too many better."

Really, Griffiths is one of the more interesting players on the entire roster, regardless of how often he is actually the focus of any USC football conversation.

For starters, he's 30 years old, and USC's sports information office isn't really sure if there's ever been an older player in program history. He played eight seasons in the Australian Football League in his home country before retiring and becoming a college football player on the other side of the world. He met his wife at USC, got married two weekend ago and could soon transition to a new professional career in the NFL if all goes well.

"It's been unbelievable," Griffiths said this week, reflecting on his almost three years at USC. "This school's been unreal. Obviously, the location is amazing, getting days like today 10 months of the year. ... The experience of going back to study as well, something I never thought I'd do, so that for me, it's a massive life achievement for me and whenever I leave this place it's going to be something I'm really proud of regardless of what happens next."

With USC's season in the doldrums as the Trojans are a disappointing 3-4 and playing host to an 0-7 Arizona team this week in a game that has spurred minimal if any buzz, it was time to indeed to finally make Griffiths the center of conversation, as he was after practice Wednesday when a bunch of reporters gathered around him to hear about his recent wedding and all the other topics that make him the most unique story on the this team.

Griffiths and Natalie Byrne, a former USC lacrosse player, got married over the Trojans' bye week earlier this month in a low-key ceremony as his family was unable to travel from Australia due to the COVID restrictions in place.

"The beauty of it was that we didn't actually plan a whole lot so it wasn't anything that could really go wrong, so the day went perfect. I'm very fortunate that my wife didn't really want to plan anything, wanted to keep it simple, so it was nice," he said.

"Travel's still restricted. That's why we chose to do it on the bye week because my family couldn't get out from Australia. They've just come out of a lockdown so hopefully things progress quickly and they can get over, but yeah, we just kind of threw it together, got an Airbnb, went down with a few of the guys and that was it."

The honeymoon is on hold as Griffiths plays out this USC football season and waits to see if the Trojans will have a bowl game to prepare for as well. Eventually, he said, he and his wife will probably just drive up the coast to Northern California and Oregon, where Byrne is from, to celebrate their future together.

As for how his much younger USC teammates reacted to his big news ...

"It probably reminded them of how old I am," he joked. "Sometimes I can fly under the radar and act to be younger than what I actually am. Now they see me as a bit mature -- well, hopefully, anyway. They were excited for us. We have been dating for a while now and they all know her very well."

Griffiths said the process of bonding with his younger teammates has actually been "seamless" these last few seasons, as he was used to having 18-year-olds cycle into his Australian rules football team, the Richmond Tigers, each year.

"But I guess it's a little bit different when you're the only old guy and the rest of the team is all younger," he acknowledged.

Nonetheless, those much younger Trojans teammates do indeed seem to appreciate Griffiths' maturity, as they voted him one of the four team captains before the season. It was an honor he wasn't expecting at all and one that is rare for a punter to receive.

"I was really blown away. I wasn't expecting it. I've been doing the same thing for the last three years, I hold myself to a high standard, I guess they kind of saw that and it reflected in the vote," he said. "I just try to stay consistent at all times, so win, lose or draw I'm going to be the same person each day I come into the building. ...

"That's what I'm trying to do. Just hold up the standards, in the weight room, the locker room, keeping it tidy, just the little things and the minor details. Obviously as a punter I can't really influence the game more than when I'm out there kicking, which is only a handful of times, so I have to find other ways to make sure I can positively affect the group."

Snyder saw it developing as Griffiths became a more vocal presence within the team.

"Really through the out of season, he worked as hard or harder than everybody on the team, he was always on time, he does everything he's supposed to do. Huge work ethic. He never slows down, and once he started to become a vocal leader, which is what we were really working [on with] him this spring, once he started developing that, vocal side of it, that's where I believe he captured his teammates with the leadership," Snyder said.

All the while, Snyder has been working with Griffiths on preparing him for a potential NFL career.

Last season, Griffiths' second with the Trojans, he averaged 46.4 yards per punt -- up from 41.2 his first season and the highest average by a USC punter since Tom Malone's 49.0 in 2003, as he benefitted from the tutelage of Snyder, a former All-American punter at Kansas State. Snyder worked on his footwork, his drops and his body posture, while Griffiths said he also needed some time to iron out some bad habits from his AFL days, where the kicking style and ball are both a little different.

Griffiths is averaging 46.12 yards over 25 punts so far this season with 14 fair catches, 11 punts inside the 20-yard line and only 2 touchbacks. The raw distance is not the metric he's is judged on, though. Snyder said his punter could easily average more yards per kick if that was the only goal.

"A lot of the stuff I'm really focusing on with him are the numbers to try to get [to the NFL]. Now the most important thing for us is the net punting. I mean, if I just cut him loose he'd average 60 yards a [punt]. The problem is we can't cover that, so our net's going to get hurt and we're going to give up punt returns. So my deal is trying to force fair catches, so we've got to keep that ball within the realm of what we can cover," Snyder explained. "So we cap that pretty good and he's really good at keeping it there, so it's yardage and hang time. The thing about Ben is he's a super team player, so he's not going to [worry about going for just a] big average."

It's hard to crack into the NFL as a punter, as few jobs come open each year, so every college punter making the jump is competing for one of those very limited spots along with the backlog of unemployed punters from years past.

For that reason, Griffiths isn't certain this will be his last year at USC -- he has two years of eligibility left if he wants them -- but he's also 30 years old, married now and ready to progress in his ambitions if he's able.

"I still have two more years, so I'm kind of open to seeing what happens at the end of the year. Got to see a few things, if it's a good year for punters to come out, so it's kind of nice knowing I've got the time," he said. "Given that, if I keep playing well and there's an opportunity, I'm probably going to take it. ...

"Absolutely [the NFL was the goal in coming to America] but first and foremost for me was to get a degree because a sport only is a small portion of your life. I've been fortunate to play now until I'm 30, but for a lot of guys after college that might be it, so the degree is what is going to take you further."

Griffiths is wrapping up a degree in psychology and ready for whatever comes next.

However it plays out, though, he has to look back at his time at USC and his decision to make the leap across the globe into a new sport and new culture as a major success.

"I would say it's gone pretty well for me -- if I give another answer I think I might be wifeless tomorrow," he said with a laugh. "No, it's been good."

NOTES: USC is already planning for its future without Griffiths as it took a commitment earlier this week from another Australian punter, Atticus Bertrams, who is 18 and trains at the same academy -- Prokick Australia -- as Griffiths did before coming over to USC.

Snyder cannot speak directly about recruits, but he offered perspective on why Australia continues to send some many punters to college programs in the United States.

"There's a ton of those guys that are here in the United States, and the camps that coach those guys do a really good job with them so they're excelling at a fast pace. High school punters, the kickers develop really quick, the punters don't develop as fast, so there's only about two or three each year that are high school punters coming out that are at the stage where you can put them out on the field and go," he said. "... It comes from all the variety of stuff they run into in high school, whether you have a good snapper or not, if you've got good protection that makes a big difference, so some of those guys just don't get a chance to get settled in to be what they are if they're working at a camp."