Here is why Rutgers punter Adam Korsak should win the Ray Guy Award
There's a saying in golf, "Drive for show, putt for dough".
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Hitting a golf ball with your expensive driver over 300 yards is great. It draws some "ooh's" and ahh's from the crowd. But that's not how you win a round or a tournament. You have to putt well when you're on the greens.
The same can be said on the football field when it comes to punters.
Rutgers' Adam Korsak, a finalist for the Ray Guy Award which is given to college football's premier punter, won't wow you with booming kicks, but he plays the position the best out of everybody in the country thanks to incredible precision and maneuvering of the prolate spheroid.
“It’s like watching a really, really fine golfer, right?” Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano said in September. "He puts the ball right where he wants it. Punting is such a big thing. I can’t emphasize enough how much he changes field position for us.
“He is as good as I’ve ever been around.”
San Diego State's Matt Araiza and Penn State's Jordan Stout are the two other finalists for the award. The winner will be announced on Dec. 9 on ESPN during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show.
According to the Ray Guy Award website, "Punters are evaluated on their overall statistics and contribution to the team. Particular emphasis is placed on the following statistics; net average, percentage of total punts inside the 20-yard line and percentage of punts not returned."
Judging by those criteria, Korsak leads the way.
Korsak and Rutgers set a new NCAA record this season for net punting at 45.34 yards. Korsak has broke the Scarlet Knights' school record all four years he's played in Piscataway.
The Melbourne, Australia native held opponents to a return of less than four yards on 66-of-70 attempts with 63 times recording a zero or negative return. Thirty-seven punts were down inside the 20-yard line with 15 stopping at the 10-yard line or closer including four at the 1-yard line.
Korsak booted 19 punts of at least 50 yards and finished with an average of 45.9 yards, a program. Korsak also didn't have any touchbacks this season and hasn't one in 122 consecutive attempts and counting dating back to 2019. He was named All-Big Ten First Team by the coaches.
Araiza is first in the country at 51.47 yards-per-punt and Stout has averaged 46.55 yards-per-punt, but neither have better the better net punting average or have shown the ability to drop the ball anywhere they want. Araiza has 14 touchdowns just this fall and Stout as three.
Korsak, who was a three-time Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week and two-time Big Ten Special Teams player of the Week this season, is a wizard, and should win the Ray Guy Award.
| Player | Punts | Net | Avg. punt | Touchbacks | Inside 20-YL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Adam Korsak, RU |
70 |
45.34 |
45.93 |
0 |
37 |
|
Jordan Stout, PSU |
62 |
45.08 |
46.55 |
3 |
34 |
|
Matt Araiza, SDSU |
73 |
44.67 |
51.47 |
14 |
36 |
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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