Courtesy of Boise State

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Boise State punter James Ferguson-Reynolds has spent most of the year leading the nation in punting average. It appears the rest of the country is beginning to take notice.

A sophomore that played his first American football game last September, Ferguson-Reynolds was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award Friday afternoon and is the only one out of those 10 semifinalists to have over 50% of his punts this season travel more than 50 yards. The award is given annually to the best punter in college football.

This marks the third consecutive year a Boise State specialist has been named a semifinalist for a national award, following back-to-back semifinalist placings by Jonah Dalmas in 2021 and 2022 for the Lou Groza Award. Ferguson-Reynolds is the first Ray Guy Award semifinalist in program history.

Originally from Geelong, Australia, Ferguson-Reynolds leads the FBS with an average of 49.8 yards per punt. Nationally, he is fifth in net average (43.6 yards per punt) and has the eighth longest punt in the country this year with a kick of 71 yards. He ranks 14th nationally by placing 18 of his 38 punts (47.4%) inside the 20 and has averaged over 50 yards per punt in seven of Boise State’s nine games.

Ferguson-Reynolds average of 52.1 yards per punt in the season opener at No. 10/11 Washington is the second-highest single game punting average mark in school history (minimum of five punts). He recorded the third-highest single game average three weeks later at San Diego State, averaging 50.8 yards per punt.

He enters the week with a career average of 44.8 yards per punt, which currently places him fourth in Mountain West history and eighth among active FBS players. On Oct. 9, Ferguson-Reynolds was named the MW Special Teams Player of the Week for the first time in his career. He has been named to the Ray’s 8 weekly list three times this season (Sept. 5, Sept. 12, Oct. 31), the last of which being named the Ray Guy National Punter of the Week.

Only two of the previous Ray Guy Award winners concluded their seasons with a higher punting average than Ferguson-Reynolds’ current mark. San Diego State’s Matt Araiza averaged 50.5 yards in 2022 and Texas A&M punter Braden Mann had an average of 51.0 yards in 2018.

Below are the 10 semifinalists for the 2023 Ray Guy Award:
James Ferguson-Reynolds, Boise State
James Burnip, Alabama
Alec Bevelhimer, Miami (OH)
Jack Bouwmeester, Utah
Jack Browning, San Diego State
Matthew Hayball, Vanderbilt
Alex Mastromanno, Florida State
Austin McNamara, Texas Tech
Tory Taylor, Iowa
Porter Wilson, Duke