Ray Guy Award watch list 2017: 5 favorites to win
By John Buhler
Football is ultimately a game of field position. It helps to have a great punter. Here are five punters who might be favored to win the 2017 Ray Guy Award.
Ray Guy is synonymous with great punting. He was a collegiate standout for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in the early 1970s. Guy would not only thrive in the punting game at Southern Miss, but he became the first punter to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the special teams standout for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders in the 1970s and 1980s.
Guy proved that punting really matters in football. It’s obvious, as the game is about field position more than anything. Guy was proficient in his ability to boom the ball way up in the air, getting excellent hang time, as well as his ability to pin the opposition deep in their own territory to start offensive drives.
The Ray Guy Award has been given out annually to the best punter in college football since 2000. Kyle Whittingham’s Utah Utes have had a player win the last three awards. The 2017 Ray Guy Award watch list was released on Wednesday. Here are five punters that could end up winning the award at regular season’s end in college football.
A.J. Cole III
Punter, North Carolina State Wolfpack
One Power 5 program that might be on the cusp of a very special year that few are paying attention to are the North Carolina State Wolfpack. The Wolfpack do play in a ferocious ACC Atlantic Division with the likes of the Clemson Tigers, the Florida State Seminoles and the Louisville Cardinals, but it wouldn’t be impossible for the team from Raleigh to shock the world and win the Atlantic.
North Carolina State returns an excellent starting quarterback in Ryan Finley and a potential first-round pick in defensive end Bradley Chubb. The Wolfpack also have one of the better punters in the ACC in senior A.J. Cole III.
Cole averages 41.5 yards per punt and has put 38 percent of his kicks inside of the opponents 20-yard line. He has played all three years with the Wolfpack and could be key in if North Carolina State stands a chance to win the ACC outright to maybe make the College Football Playoff.
North Carolina State will be one of the better defenses in the Power 5. A big senior season out of Cole’s leg will only help the Wolfpack win the always crucial field position battle in 2017. Assuming Finley pops as well under center, it’s not that hard to forecast a potentially great year in Raleigh for the on-the-rise Wolfpack under head coach Dave Doeren.