AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bowling Green's Matt Naranjo, Eastern Michigan's Jake Julien, Central Michigan's Luke Elzinga, Northern Illinois' Matt Ference, Toledo's Bailey Flint and Western Michigan's Nick Mihalic have been named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List, which is presented annually to the nation's top punter. The announcement was made today, July 28, by the Augusta Sports Council.
The candidates on the list incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) punters. The 2021 watch list was compiled based on the 2021 Ray Guy Award Semifinalist List, the top 10 NCAA Punters from 2020, the 2020 All-Conference teams, the 2020 All-American Teams, the 2021 preseason all-conference teams, and punters on the 2020 watchlist.
Naranjo has a career punting average of 40.4 yards per punt. The three-time MAC All-Academic team honoree was a Campbell Trophy semifinalist in 2020 after averaging 39.3 yards per punt with five of his 19 punts being downed inside the 20-yard line, while another four went for 50+ yards.
Drafted No. 31 overall by the Ottawa RedBlacks in the 2021 Canadian Football League Draft, Julien has built his special teams resume into one of the best in school history. He is tied with Rich Hanschu (1979-80) for first in the EMU record books with a 43.4-yard career punting average and ranks eighth in EMU history with 7,383 yards punting. Julien is the only punter in Eastern Michigan history to record two 70+ yard punts in his career. Through four seasons, he has 51 balls downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line to go along with 37 that traveled longer than 50 yards.
Elzinga earned first team All-Mid-American Conference honors in 2020 when he ranked second in the MAC with a 43.2-yard average and 13 of his 33 punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. Six of his punts in 2020 traveled 50 yards or more and his 76-yarder against Ohio was the longest by a MAC punter on the season.
A four-year starter at punter, Ference holds nearly every Huskie punting mark, including career average (41.5), most punts in a season (86) and a career (265) and most punting yards in a season (3,473) and career (10,994). He also owns the top three single season punting averages at NIU. The St. Louis native finished second in the MAC last season with 31 punts and tied for third in the league with seven punts inside the 20. All-time, nearly a third of Ference's punts (86-of-265, 32%) have pinned opponents inside their 20.
Flint has been Toledo's regular punter since 2017. He had his best season in 2019 when he was averaging 47.3 yards per punt until his season was cut short due to injury. He holds a bachelor's degrees in media communications and theater, and is currently pursuing a master's degree in liberal studies with a focus in theater.
Mihalic served as Western Michigan's punter for all six games, punting 18 times for an average of 42.61 yards. He pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line on six occasions and recorded four punts of at least 50 yards. Mihalic also kicked off 41 times with 14 touchbacks.
The number of eligible candidates for this season will grow when the award opens nominations on July 29. The complete list of candidates will be released on Nov. 2. In mid-November, the Ray Guy Award committee will meet to select the 10 semifinalists, who will be announced on Nov. 10. A national body of FBS sports information directors, media representatives and previous Ray Guy Award winners will then vote for the top three finalists to be announced on Nov. 23. After the finalists are named, the voting body will cast ballots again to select the nation's top punter. The winner will be announced live during The Home Depot College Football Awards airing on ESPN on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.
