July 7, 2011

BERKELEY - Senior Bryan Anger has been named to the watch list for the 2011 Ray Guy Award, which recognizes the nation's top collegiate punter, the Augusta Sports Council announced Thursday. A two-time semifinalist for the honor previously, Anger ranks second in school history with a 43.3 yards-per-punt average over his career.

The other four members of the watch list were also semifinalists in 2010:

• Drew Butler (Sr.), Georgia
• Kyle Martens (Sr.), Rice
• Quinn Sharp (Jr.), Oklahoma State
• Dawson Zimmerman (Sr.), Clemson

Anger enters his senior campaign having recorded 54 punts of at least 50 yards. He has pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line on 71 occasions and forced opponents into fair catches 62 times. Overall, Anger has posted four of the 12 longest punts in school history, including a career-long 76-yarder vs. Stanford in 2008 that ranks fourth. He was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award in both 2008 and 2010 and has been voted the Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Week three times.

A first-team All-Pac-10 selection in both 2009 and '10, Anger was also tabbed a first-team Freshman All-American in 2008. This year, he has already been named a third-team preseason All-American by Phil Steele and a first-team preseason All-Pac-12 choice by four different publications.

The number of candidates for the Ray Guy Award will grow when the award opens for nominations in mid-August, and the complete list of candidates will be released on Oct. 28. In early November, the Ray Guy Award committee will meet to select the 10 semifinalists, who will be announced on Nov. 11. A national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, coaches, media representatives and previous Ray Guy Award winners will then vote for the top three finalists to be announced on Nov. 21. 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 ESPNU College Football Awards Show airing on ESPN on Thursday, Dec. 8.

The Augusta Sports Council created the Ray Guy Award in 2000 to honor Georgia native and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy. Among the statistics used to identify the winner are net punting average, number of times a punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside the opponents 20-yard line, total yardage punted, average returned yardage, and percentage of punts not returned. The winner must display team leadership, self-discipline, and have a positive impact on the team's success.

For more information on the Ray Guy Award, visit augustasportscouncil.org.