Senior punter putting together a career-best year for the Bulls
TAMPA, NOV. 15, 2024 – University of South Florida senior punter Andrew Stokes (Perth, Australia) has been named a semifinalist for the 2024 Ray Guy Award recognizing the nation’s most outstanding collegiate punter.
The 10 semifinalists were chosen from a field of 89 nominated candidates.
Stokes, a 30-year-old former Australian rules football player, is having a career-best season in his final campaign and is on pace to set USF season and career records for punts landed inside the 20 and post a top two season in punting average.
Recognized in four weeks in Ray’s 8, the award’s weekly national honor roll, Stokes currently ranks 16th in the nation with a 45.1 average, the second-best season mark in program history, has a 42.69-yard net, and his 21 punts landed inside the 20 lead the American Athletic Conference by five and are on pace to eclipse the USF season mark of 30 set in 2011. Meanwhile, he has had just four punts go into the end zone for touchbacks. His 2,172 yards on 48 punts rank second in The American and opponents have returned just 10 of his punts on the year for a total of 43 yards.
Stokes enters Saturday’s USF game at Charlotte (3:30 p.m./ESPN+) with 67 career punts landed inside the 20, just one shy of Justin Brockhaus-Kann’s USF career record of 68. He is also continuing a USF record with 176 consecutive punts without a block. With 7,308 career yards, he is on pace to enter the top three in career punting yardage at USF, and his career average of 41.5 is on pace to finish in the top four all-time at USF.
A national voting body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, national media and previous Ray Guy Award winners will decide the three award finalists who will be announced on Tues., Nov. 26. The voting body will then vote again to determine the winner of the Ray Guy Award. The winner will be announced live on Thurs., Dec. 12 during The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
The other 2024 Ray Guy Award semifinalists are Alex Mastromanno (Florida State), Brett Thorson (Georgia), Eddie Czaplicki (USC), Fraser Masin (Ole Miss), James Burnip (Alabama), Jeremy Crawshaw (Florida), John Henderson (Bowling Green), Kai Kroeger (South Carolina), and Tyler White (Texas A&M).
About the Ray Guy Award
The Augusta Sports Council created the Ray Guy Award in 2000 to honor Thomson, Georgia native and College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Ray Guy. Punters are evaluated on their overall statistics and contribution to the team. Particular emphasis is placed on net average, percentage of total punts inside the 20-yard line, and percentage of punts not returned. The winner must display team leadership, self-discipline, and have a positive impact on the team’s success.
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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 27th season in 2023 with a program-best six-game turnaround and Boca Raton Bowl victory under first-year head coach Alex Golesh. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 16 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 32 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 11 bowl game appearances (going 7-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.
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