Australian and University of Utah sophomore punter Mitch Wishnowsky has won the Ray Guy Award presented to the nation’s top punter in college football.
Three Australians were the finalists for the award so we knew before hand the award would be coming back down under. The other finalists were Michael Dickson from Texas and Cameron Johnston from Ohio State, Johnson may not have been able to take out the award but he will take part in the College Football Playoffs.
- Wishnowsky stats were impressive:
- Net Punting 44.90 Ranked 1st
- Punt Average 48.0 Ranked 2nd
- Punts inside the 20-yard line with 34 Ranked 1st (tied)
- Punts of 50+ yards with 28, Ranked 1st (tied)
- Percentage of punts inside the 20, 56.67%, 34-of-60 Ranked 2nd
Wishnowsky was also named as the punter for the 127th Walter Camp All-American team and earlier in the year was named Pac-12 All-Conference.
He is the 3rd Australian to win the award and joins Tom Hornsey (2013) and Tom Hackett (2014 & 2015) as Australian born winners. Wishnowsky only a sophomore has the opportunity like Hackett to win the award multiple times, if he can achieve that feet Utah may need to purchase a larger trophy case.
All of the Australians who have won the Ray Guy Award have all been a part of the Prokick Australia academy headed up by Nathan Chapman and John Smith who have created a pipeline for Australians wanting to head over to the USA to play college football.
