When the West takes on the East in the annual Shrine All-Star Classic Saturday afternoon, Austin Rehkow will be in a somewhat familiar position – he'll be both kicker and punter for the West.
 
"We've been keeping pretty busy," said Rehkow from St. Petersburg, Fla., where the game will be played Saturday at Tropicana Field. "It's like a mini fall camp – just the feeling of always needing to go somewhere."
 
Rehkow is one of just 116 players invited to play in the annual game that benefits Shriners Hospitals For Children as it showcases the nation's top collegiate talent. As part of game-week preparation, which includes coaching from NFL staffs, players visited local hospitals.
 
For the most part, Rehkow said, on the field it's business as usual – with some exceptions.
 
"The biggest difference is everybody's bigger," he said.
 
Even though they have been thrown together for one week and one game, there is a sense of camaraderie.
 
"Everybody's been real cool," he said. "We're all kind of at this point where it's getting real now. We're able to talk about (the possibility of professional careers)."
 
Rehkow hopes to parlay his being one of the nation's best kickers and punters over the past four years into a professional career. The surprise to him – a one-time finalist for the nation's top punting award (the Ray Guy Award), is the interest in him appears to be as a kicker.
 
"They're more intrigued with the kicking side of it than the punting," said Rehkow, who was ranked third nationally in field goals per game and 11^th in field goal percentage during his senior season. "I'm fine with either – or both. This week has been a great opportunity to showcase what you can do."
 
He'll have another chance to display his talents when he attends the NFL Combine in February. In between, he'll work on his kicking and punting and a physical therapy internship in his hometown of Spokane.
 
His plan for Saturday?
 
"I'm just going to enjoy it," he said. "It will be a lot of fun."
 
The game is live on the NFL Network with radio coverage provided by The East-West Shrine Game Radio Network. Kickoff is at noon PT. A link to the radio broadcast will be live here at game time.