Utah State's Bennett a Candidate for Ray Guy Award

Utah State [University] football player Tyler Bennett has been named a candidate for the 2011 Ray Guy Award, which identifies the nation’s top collegiate punter, announced Monday [Oct. 31] by the Augusta Sports Council.

Bennett is one of two punters from the Western Athletic Conference, joined by Bobby Cowan of Idaho, on the 54 candidate list.  Additionally, Bennett is one of two punters from Utah schools, along with BYU’s Riley Stephenson.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Bennett said. “I feel very blessed for this opportunity, it doesn’t come around very often. I’m thankful and I’ve worked hard for this. It is nice to be recognized for all the hard work. I’m thankful for my teammates, mostly the gunners, who get down the field and cover the punts to help us with a great net punting average. This honor is a great accomplishment, but you can always strive for better and I hope to be among the top 10 semi-finalists.”

A junior in his first season with USU after transferring from Phoenix Community College, Bennett is a native of Phoenix, Ariz. (North Canyon HS). Bennett is second in the WAC, with a 46.1 yards per punt average, behind Cowan’s 47.5 ypp, and Bennett ranks seventh in the FBS in punting. A total of 10 of Bennett’s punts have been 50+ yards, including a long of 67 yards.  Bennett has 14 punts inside the opposition’s 20-yard line, ranking tied for 21st in the country.  Nearly half of Bennett’s punts (14-of-34, .412) have been pinned inside the 20.

“This is a good achievement and honor for Tyler,” USU head coach Gary Andersen said. “We’re just over the halfway mark on the season so what he does from here on out will dictate exactly how far he moves along with this award process. It’s a great honor for him, especially coming in as a junior college transfer, and he has done a very nice job kicking the ball for us so far, so we need to keep that up. I’m proud of him for this honor.”

As a unit, Utah State leads the WAC and ranks seventh in the FBS in net punting at 40.9 ypp.

The Ray Guy Award list will be narrowed to ten semi-finalists to be announced Nov. 11. Following the semi-finalists 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 Nov. 21. 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 Thursday, Dec. 8, at 9 p.m. (ET) on ESPN. The show, hosted by ESPN’s Chris Fowler, Lee Corson, 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. Fans can visit the show’s dedicated website at www.espncollegefootballawards.com to find the latest college football awards news, including show details, previous winners, fan voting, a photo gallery and video highlights.

Utah State is coming off its second and final bye of the season and returns to WAC play on Saturday, Nov. 5, when it plays at Hawai’i at 10 p.m. (MT).

The Aggies return home to the friendly confines of Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium to host San Jose State Saturday, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m. (MT). 

To purchase tickets, or for more Aggie Athletics ticket information, fans can contact the USU Ticket Office at 1-888-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305, in person at the USU Ticket Office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, or on-line 24 hours a day at www.utahstateaggies.com by clicking on the “tickets” button.

Fans can follow the Aggie football program at Twitter or on the USU football blog. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at Twitter or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.

Additional Aggie sports news is available at the Athletics website.

Contact: Zach Fisher, associate director, Athletic Media Relations, (435) 797-2066, zach.fisher@usu.edu