Throw a rock in any direction and you’ll likely hit a Freshman Football All American lists. The Football Writers Assoc. and coaches were the “traditional sources” for many years when print media was the coverage leader. Not wanting to cede “expertise” to the dead tree writers, broadcasters and some internet sports sites are producing their own FFAA lists. ESPN has a True Freshman Football AA list excluding RS freshman.
CFB clubs and groups (http://ncfaa.org/) give out ~20 player trophies. Awards are likely the only source material used by lazy journalists to justify their college football AA picks. There are no awards for football freshman per se as football playing freshman are eligible for any award.
Dane started every game this year. He’s hasn’t shown a boomer leg (yet) but he appears to know how to “punt.” His height gives him a good view of the field and he’s developed a touch for inside the 20-yard-line. He won AAC ST player of the week for the Tulane win. UHCougars.com doesn’t show him on any watch lists. The Ray Guy college punter award watch list this year has no freshman. BTW, two Aussies won the RG award the past three years running and came from the same “camp” as Dane (http://www.prokickaustralia.com/).
I haven’t been able to answer my own question. I think the Tulane game demonstrated he’s a punter with great upside; not just a big leg from Down Under. Any idea if he gets an Freshman AA nod? Will being 27 and a former Aussie FB player hurt him cuz is he REEEAAALY a freshman?
I’d like to think we’d have Ed O. and Dane on FFAA lists.
I’m certain your data is from the NCAA site. Revisit the NCAA site (https://goo.gl/yRI9xY) and compare not only average punt but total yards, punts and total games too (Dane had no punts against Navy). Unfortunately the table is nonsorting, seeing freshman stats together is not possible. However, my point is “punt average” is not THE metric to evaluate a punter/punting team.
The metrics the Ray Guy Award folks use is basically the “body of work” of a punter: “Particular emphasis is placed on net punting average, percent of punts not returned, number of punts and percent of punts downed inside the 20 yard line.”
If your team has good ball control and scores a bunch a punter won’t get that many punts. A punter getting the ball consistently in a short field (inside opponents 50-ish yard line) makes the “total yards/# of punts” an unfair metric. In a short field the punting metric is getting no return and the change of possession inside the 20.
Defense and special teams create the longest field for opponents and the shortest field for their offense. For me, a good metric to know is your team’s and its opponents’ average starting field position. Punting teams make a greater contribution to victory in close games staying with or keeping away from an opponent.
For me, Dane’s punting has “matured” and it showed against Tulane and Louisville. His “body of work” has grown beyond the metric of “average punt yardage.” Against Tulane where we looked hapless at times, should’ve stayed several TD’s ahead and were giving Tulane hope Dane and the punting team kept them at bay.
One of the best things about attending games is actually experiencing the stats and getting a feel for Dane’s “body of work” evolve game-to-game. On the way home from the Tulane game my wife (an English-Canadian with an affinity for Anglo-speaking countries) talked a bunch about Dane and the special teams. We just wondered if Dane could be in the running for an punting award and I went down that rabbit hole.