Kansas University sophomore Kyle Tucker gives a lot of credit for his booming punts to a camp he attended in New Orleans run by former NFL punter Ray Guy.
“I think that’s what helped me out the most,” Tucker said. “It made me a lot more consistent, and helped with fundamentals.”
It’s fitting, then, that Guy’s tutelage eventually landed Tucker on an exclusive list – he was named Wednesday as one of 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the best punter in college football.
Tucker attended the camp before his senior year at Cinco Ranch High in Katy, Texas. Since then, he has elevated his punting to among the best in college football.
Tucker has averaged 43.3 yards per punt for 46 punts and placed 14 inside the 20-yard line.
The vaunted KU defense gets its due, and rightfully so. But it never hurts for opposing offenses to have a lot of field in front of them, which often is Tucker’s doing.
“He’s been a major force for us in field-position game,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “He’s a guy that came in as a true freshman and we knew had a lot of talent. He’s doing the things we thought he could do, and in some cases, just in his second year, is exceeding expectations probably a little bit.”
Of the 10 players on the Ray Guy list, three are from the Big 12 North. Nebraska senior Sam Koch and Colorado senior John Torp were the other Big 12 punters on the list.
Last year’s winner, Baylor’s Daniel Sepulveda, didn’t make the cut.
Tucker is one of two sophomore semifinalists, joining Purdue’s Dave Brytus. The rest are juniors or seniors.
“I think it’s a great honor to be mentioned with all those other punters there,” Tucker said. “The Colorado punter is in there, and he’s a great punter. Everybody in there is really good.”
Another cut will be made to three finalists for the award. The winner will be announced Dec. 8 live on ESPN.
“It is obvious the outstanding group of punters has focused on team success instead of individual accomplishments,” Guy said in a statement. “Everyone on our top-10 list has performed unselfishly, qualifying each to be worthy of being named the nation’s top punter.”
¢ BCCC reunion: Butler County Community College had quite a football passing attack last season, and the main components of it will reunite on the field Saturday, when Kansas University takes on Nebraska.
Nebraska QB Zac Taylor played last year at Butler, located in El Dorado. His favorite targets were Frantz Hardy, now with him at Nebraska, and Brian Murph, now one of KU’s top wideouts.
“Me and Hardy keep in touch all the time,” Murph said. “Zac : we talked a couple of days ago on the phone. We don’t talk about the game. We just talk about how each of us is doing.”
Murph had 835 receiving yards and eight touchdowns his sophomore year, the only year Taylor was at Butler with him.
“He gets the balls to the receivers real quick,” Murph said of Taylor. “He’s a smart quarterback.”
¢ Luke better: Quarterback Brian Luke showed noticeable improvement in the last two practices and could be available for backup duties behind Jason Swanson on Saturday.
“Brian was running around pretty good,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “He’s not showing any effects of the injury now.”
¢ Let there be light: When the clocks fell back last weekend to end daylight-saving time, the Jayhawks had to improvise, carting out temporary light standards to the practice field for workouts that stretched past 5:30 p.m., like Wednesday’s did.
The generators create a little buzzing noise during practice time, but that’s not a bad thing.
“That’s built-in crowd noise,” Mangino quipped.
