One of the highlight players of the 2015 Colorado State Rams wasn’t a first-team All-Mountain West player.
Hayden Hunt, the profound punter who’s gone from Ray Guy Award semifinalist to finalist recently, was named second-team All-MW by the conference yesterday afternoon, with San Jose State’s Michael Carrizosa being placed on the first-team.
How could this be?
Well, Carrizosa is one of the Ray Guy Award finalists with Hunt. The other is Utah’s Tom Hackett, a senior who won the honor – which is awarded to the nation’s top punter – in 2014.
So, is Carrizosa actually better than Hunt? Let’s take a look at the numbers:
| Name | Total punt yards | Yards per punt | Punts downed inside 20 |
| Hayden Hunt (Jr.) | 2315 | 46.3 | 23-50, 46 percent |
| Michael Carrizosa (So.) | 2049 | 47.7 | 16-43, 37 percent |
| Tom Hackett (Sr.) | 2274 | 47.4 | 21-48, 43.8 percent |
Hunt’s career-long punt came this year with a 73-yarder against Minnesota and he had only one touchback all season long. That one touchback accounts for a 2 percent average, which is best in the nation.
“He’s probably the best punter that I’ve ever seen,” head coach Mike Bobo said. “The impact that he has to flip the field has been a huge weapon, and he’s so unselfish. He’s not worried about his average.”
Carrizosa’s longest punt was exactly 73 yards, too, and his 47.7 yards per punt average is the longest in the nation. Hackett enjoyed a 76-yard punt and leads Hunt in average boot, as well.
What it amounts to is a close race between three superb punters, and in the Mountain West, a likely splitting of hairs when it came to picking first and second-team guys.
The Ray Guy Award winner will be announced on Dec. 10 during The Home Depot College Football Awards, which airs at 5 p.m. MT on ESPN.
