College Football: 2017 Ray Guy Award watch list announced

College football’s 2017 Ray Guy Award, given annually to the nation’s top punter, watch list was announced on Wednesday.

The next two weeks will be loaded with college football preseason award watch list reveals. On Wednesday, the Lou Groza Award watch list was announced as well as the 2017 Ray Guy Award watch list, given annually to the nation’s top punter.

Punters and kickers are people, too.

The Ray Guy Award is one that doesn’t get as much recognition as its counterpart, the Lou Groza, because punters don’t put points on the board like kickers do. However, they play just as important a role as placekickers, pinning opponents deep in their own territory and sometimes even taking part in a trick play, or two.

On Wednesday, the list of candidates was revealed via the Ray Guy Award Twitter page:

Last year, Utah’s Mitch Wishnowsky won the award and will enter his junior season as the clear favorite to take home the trophy once again. Utah punters have dominated the Ray Guy Award recently. In fact, the last three Ray Guy Awards have been taken back to Utah as Wishnowsky won in 2016 and his predecessor, Tom Hackett, won the two previous years.

Another 2016 finalist, Texas’ Michael Dickson, has also made the watch list. If anyone’s going to dethrone Wishnowsky, it may be this 2016 runner-up. Keep an eye on Bowling Green’s Joseph Davidson, Florida’s Johnny Townsend and Oklahoma State’s Zach Sinor who were all semifinalists in 2016.

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Who will be the one to dethrone the Utah punting powerhouse in 2017? Heck, don’t be surprised if Wishnowsky takes home his second straight crown.