SAN DIEGO – San Diego State senior punter Jack Browning has been named a semifinalist for the prestigious Ray Guy Award. He is one of ten to be named to the final 10 semifinalists.
The Augusta Sports Council created the Ray Guy Award in 2000 to honor College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy. Among the statistics used to identify the winner is net punting average, number of times punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside the opponents 20-yard line, total yardage punted, average returned yardage and percentage of punts not returned with particular emphasis placed on net punting average. The winner must display team leadership, self-discipline and have a positive impact on the team's success.
For the season, he has made 45 punts totaling over 2,000 yards for an average of 45.2 yards per punt. He has had 17 punts land inside the 20-yard line, 12 punts go for over 50 yards, and four punts result in touchbacks. Two of his punts have also gone for 60-plus yards, including a career-long 66 yarder at Hawai'i on Oct. 14.
Browning is currently tied for tenth in FBS in punts inside the 20-yard line (17), 12th in FBS in net punt average (42.51), 19th in overall punt average (45.24), and 21st in total punt yards (2,036) and punt yards per game (226.56). He also ranks in the FBS top 30 for punts per game and total punts.
He opened his senior season with a 56.3 punt average in the first game of the year, which still ranks as the fourth highest single-game average in FBS this season, minimum three punts. He also had a 56.0 average in the Aztecs' game at Hawai'i, which ranks as the second-highest in FBS for a single-game, minimum four punts. Browning was named Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week both times.
The Lakeside, Calif. native took over both the kicking and punting duties from 2021 Ray Guy Award winner Matt Araiza last year. The former walk-on went on to earn All-American honors from Pro Football Focus and College Football Network, as well as the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in his first year as the Aztec kicker/punter. He was SDSU's second straight punter to win the conference honor and fifth over the last eight seasons.
A national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, media representatives and previous Ray Guy Award winners will then vote for the top-3 finalists to be released on Nov. 22. After the finalists are named, the voting body will cast ballots again to select the nation's top punter with the winner being announced live during The Home Depot College Football Awards airing on ESPN in December.
Browning and the Aztecs (3-6, 1-4 MW) is at Colorado State this afternoon at 5 p.m. MT (4 p.m. PT) on CBS Sports Network.