Austin Rehkow misses out on Ray Guy Award
As a sophomore, it's an accomplishment just getting nominated for the Ray Guy Award. Rehkow was one of three finalists for the award this evening at the award show in Orlando.
Unfortunately for the Idaho punter from Spokane Valley, Wash., he did not attain the award.
Utah junior Tom Hackett took home the 2014 Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's most outstanding punter.
Hackett put up impressive numbers in 2014. He punted 77 times for an average of 44.0 yards. He put a mind-numbing 35 of those kicks inside the 20-yard line. He had 10 touchbacks with 25 of those kicks going beyond 50 yards.
Rehkow only punted 44 times this season, the fewest number of punts for an Idaho punter since 2010 (43). He pinned 17 kicks inside the 20 and kicked 19 of them over 50 yards. He only had three touchbacks.
While it is surely disappointing for Rehkow to not win the award this season, he is only a sophomore and will surely be a favorite to be a finalist for the award in 2015. He is already well ahead of the pace of two outstanding Idaho punters who preceded him — T.J. Conley and Bobby Cowan.
From his sophomore through senior seasons (2010-2012), Cowan pinned 41 of his 201 kicks inside the 20-yard line while booming 86 of them beyond 50 yards. (The 2009 statistics page on GoVandals.com is currently not working, so I couldn't grab statistics from his freshman season). Cowan's best average was 46.4 punts per yard his junior season.
T.J. Conley, who played with the New York Jets during the 2011 season, pinned 54 of his 222 kicks inside the 20-yard line while booming 45 of those kicks beyond 50 yards. Conley's career at Idaho ranged from 2005 through 2008. Conley averaged 47.4 yards per punt his senior season.
Those two players were outstanding punters for Idaho, and Rehkow is well on pace to outdo those numbers. Rehkow has kicked 119 times through his sophomore season, pinning 44 of them inside the 20-yard line and blasting 53 of them beyond 50 yards. He's averaged 47.8 yards per punt through his first two seasons. That's 36 percent of his kicks being pinned inside the 20-yard line and 44 percent of them going 50 yards or further.
The two previous winners of the award were Tom Hornsey from Memphis and Ryan Allen of Louisiana Tech, who won back-to-back Ray Guy awards during his junior and senior seasons. Allen punted 88 times in 2011 for a 46.1 yard average and 39 kicks inside the 20. In 2012 he averaged 48.0 yards per punt. Hornsey had a 45.2 yard-per-punt average with 29 of his 62 kicks pinned inside the 20-yard line.
