Marshall University Athletics
Williams Named to Ray Guy Award Watch List
10/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Marshall junior punter Tyler Williams was named to the 2014 Ray Guy Award Watch List on Friday by the Augusta Sports Council.
Candidates were nominated for the award by their school’s sports information department. Williams was one of 10 semifinalists for the award as a freshman in 2012.
Williams’ 47.6-yard average would rank second nationally if he had enough punts, but his 24 kicks are five short of the 3.6 per game the NCAA requires for qualification. He has 35 career punts of 50 or more yards, and the Fort Wayne, Ind., resident has nine boots of 60 or more yards, which ties Chris Hanson’s 1995-98 school mark for most at that distance. He has pinned 34 punts inside opponents’ 20-yard line and has four of the school’s top 11 average games (all of 50.5 or more yards).
In last Saturday’s victory over Florida Atlantic, Williams booted five times for a 51.4-yard average, the best average of his career. Every punt went at least 47 yards, with a long of 64. And although Williams doesn’t personally qualify for the national rankings, Marshall is No. 2 in team punting average, behind the 48.0 average of Idaho’s Austin Rehkow on 32 kicks in seven games.
The Herd also ranks 14th in major college football in net punting, at 40.96 yards. Only seven of Williams’ 24 punts have been returned, for 79 yards – and 54 of those came on a third-quarter runback by Fred McRae IV of Miami (Ohio) in the season opener.
The list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists to be announced on Friday, Nov. 14. Following the semifinalists announcement, a national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, coaches, media representatives and previous Ray Guy Award winners will vote for the top three finalists, who will be identified on Monday, Nov. 24. The voting body will then cast ballots to select the winner.
The presentation of the Ray Guy Award will be featured on The Home Depot College Football Awards live on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 pm ET on ESPN. The show, hosted by ESPN’s Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard will feature live presentation of nine player awards, along with the recipients of Disney’s Spirit Award, The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, the NCFAA (National College Football Awards Association) Contributions to College Football Award, and student-athletes selected to the Walter Camp All-America Team.
No. 23 Marshall is on a bye this weekend but will return to action a week from Saturday when it travels to Southern Miss for a 7 p.m. (6 p.m. CT) kickoff for a game that will be televised on the American Sports Network (WVAH Fox 11 in Huntington-Charleston).
2014 Ray Guy Award Candidates
JK Scott, Alabama
Drew Riggleman, Arizona
Matthew Haack, Arizona State
Sam Irwin-Hill, Arkansas
Luke Ferguson, Arkansas State
Alex Tardieu, Army
Spencer Roth, Baylor
Alex Howell, Boston College
Tyler Grassman, Buffalo
Scott Arellano, BYU
Cole Leininger, California
Ron Coluzzi, Central Michigan
Bradley Pinion, Clemson
Darragh O'Neill, Colorado
Hayden Hunt, Colorado State
Will Monday, Duke
Worth Gregory, East Carolina
Owen Dubiel, Eastern Michigan
Dalton Schomp, FAU
Kyle Christy, Florida
Garrett Swanson, Fresno State
Collin Barber, Georgia
Scott Harding, Hawai‘i
Austin Rehkow, Idaho
Justin DuVernois, Illinois
Colin Downing, Iowa State
Trevor Pardula, Kansas
Nick Walsh, Kansas State
Anthony Melchiori, Kent State
Landon Foster, Kentucky
Daniel Cadona, Louisiana
Jamie Keehn, LSU
Tyler Williams, Marshall
Will Hagerup, Michigan
Mike Sadler, Michigan State
Peter Mortell, Minnesota
Devon Bell, Mississippi State
Christian Brinser, Missouri
Wil Baumann, NC State
Sam Foltz, Nebraska
Thomas Hibbard, North Carolina
Tyler Wedel, Northern Illinois
Cameron Johnston, Ohio State
Jed Barnett, Oklahoma
Kip Smith, Oklahoma State
Jarrett Cervi, Old Dominion
Will Gleeson, Ole Miss
Keith Kostol, Oregon State
Ryan Winslow, Pittsburgh
Thomas Meadows, Purdue
James Farrimond, Rice
Joel Alesi, San Diego State
Tyler Hull, South Carolina
Tyler Sarrazin, Southern Miss
Ben Rhyne, Stanford
Riley Dixon, Syracuse
Ethan Perry, TCU
Matt Darr, Tennessee
William Russ, Texas
Drew Kaser, Texas A&M
Will Johnson, Texas State
Taylor Symmank, Texas Tech
Dalton Parks, Tulsa
Hunter Mullins, UAB
Caleb Houston, UCF
Justin Wain, UConn
Justin Manton, ULM
Logan Yunker, UNLV
Mattias Ciabatti, USF
Tom Hackett, Utah
Jaron Bentrude, Utah State
Mike Ruggles, UTEP
Alec Vozenilek, Virginia
A.J. Hughes, Virginia Tech
Alexander Kinal, Wake Forest
Korey Durkee, Washington
Nick O'Toole, West Virginia
J. Schroeder, Western Michigan
Drew Meyer, Wisconsin
Joseph Occhipinti, WKU
