Punter Andrew Stokes becomes 14th Bull to earn All-America recognition, finishes his career among the best punters in program history
TAMPA, FLA., JAN. 2, 2025 – Following a stellar outing in South Florida Football’s Hawai’i Bowl victory and one of the top punting seasons in program history, Bulls punter Andrew Stokes (Perth, Australia) has been named a Phil Steele Honorable Mention All-American.
Stokes was a big key to the Bulls second-straight bowl game victory as USF downed San Jose State, 41-39, in a five-overtime thriller on Christmas Eve. The Bulls’ eighth bowl game victory in 12 appearances, including back-to-back wins in head coach Alex Golesh’s first two seasons, helped USF finish 7-6.
Stokes becomes the 14th Bull to earn an All-America recognition and the first punter since Tony Umholtz was named a First Team AP All-American in 1999. He also earned First Team All-AAC honors from both Phil Steele and AAC coaches as he finished the season leading the conference with 27 punts downed inside the 20, just three short of the USF record, and 45.4 average that stands second all-time in the USF record books.
Stokes punted 69 times or 3,141 yards on the year, the third-most yardage in a season at USF, and capped his final season with a stellar outing in the Hawai’i Bowl. In the victory over San Jose State, Stokes hit a 72-yard punt that tied as the longest in program history and came with 2:09 to play in the fourth quarter and USF trailing by three. It flipped the field allowing the USF defense to get a stop at the SJSU14 and for USF to hit a game-tying 41-yard field goal with :02 remaining to send the game to overtime. His 51.0-yard average on seven punts were a career-best that ranks fourth all-time at USF.
Stokes ended his USF career second all-time in career punts (197) and career punting yardage (8,277) as well as the all-time leader in punts downed inside the 20 with 73 and in consecutive punts without a block with 197. Meanwhile, his 42.0 career average ranks fourth all-time at USF
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 28th season in 2024 with its second-straight bowl victory in the Hawai’i Bowl. Head coach Alex Golesh posted a program-best six-game turnaround and a Boca Raton Bowl victory in his first season in 2023. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center broke ground in the fall of 2024 and is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 17 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 33 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 12 bowl game appearances (going 8-4), 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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