FLORENCE, Ala. — The Augusta Sports Council announced that University of North Alabama senior punter Joe Gurley of Kille, Ala., is on its pre-season watch list for the 2021 FCS Punter of the Year Award, which honors the nation’s top collegiate punter in the FCS.
The 20 candidates on the list incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Championship Series (FCS) punters. The 2021 watch list was compiled based on the 2020 FCS Punter of the Year watchlist, the 2020 All-Conference teams, the 2020 All-American Teams and the 2021 pre-season All-Conference Teams.
The FCS Punter of the Year Award winner will be voted on by the FCS Punter of the Year Award/Ray Guy Award Committee and will be announced after regular season play commences (subject to change based on current COVID-19 updates and decision making by the NCAA and other organizing bodies).
A four-year starting punter at UNA, Gurley led the Big South Conference in punting in 2020 with a 43.8 average. He earned first-team All-Big South honors following the season.
For his career, Gurley has a 40.3-yard average for 179 punts and has 22 boots over 50 yards.
2021 Preseason Watchlist
Andrew Foster
Morehead State
Aubrey Grace
Alabama State
Austin Dunlap
Southeastern Louisiana
Ben Niesner
Valparaiso
Brady Schutt
South Dakota
Chris Faddoul
Florida A&M
D.J. Arnson
Northern Arizona
Daniel Whelan
UC Davis
Harry O'Kelly
James Madison
Joe Gurley
North Alabama
Jon Sot
Harvard
JT Bohlken
Illinois State
Kaleb Mosley
Tennessee State
Matthew Campbell
The Citadel
Matt McRobert
Sam Houston
Nathan Fondacaro
Villanova
Noah Gettman
Sacred Heart
Patrick Haughney
Holy Cross
Ryan Richter
Norfolk State
Zach Haynes
Southeast Missouri
About the FCS Punter of the Year Award
The Augusta Sports Council, also home to the Ray Guy Award (awarded to the best collegiate punter in the FBS), created the FCS Punter of the Year Award in 2019 to honor the best collegiate punter playing in the FCS. 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.