Will the 2015 Ray Guy Award race have room at the top for a new face?
It won't be easy.
Seven semifinalists from last year's competition for the honor return to make up 25 on the 2015 Ray Guy Award watch list, including 2014 winner Tom Hackett of Utah. Hackett averaged 46.7 yards per punt last season and had 19 punts downed inside the opponent's 10-yard line. Alabama's J.K. Scott and Idaho's Austin Rehkow are back as 2014 finalists, and returning semifinalists from last year include Ohio State's Cameron Johnston, Wake Forest's Alex Kinal, Texas A&M's Drew Kaser and Miami's Justin Vogel
More candidates will be announced on Oct. 30, and semifinalists will be announced Nov. 13. Finalists will be revealed on Nov. 23 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 10.
Schedule of award watch list releases:
Tuesday, July 7: Bednarik Award and Maxwell Award
Wednesday, July 8: Mackey Award and Rimington Trophy
Thursday, July 9: Lou Groza Award and Ray Guy Award
Friday, July 10: Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Outland Trophy
Monday, July 13: Jim Thorpe Award
Tuesday, July 14: Butkus Award and Rotary Lombardi Award
Wednesday, July 15: Biletnikoff Award and Wuerffel Trophy
Thursday, July 16: Davey O'Brien Award and Doak Walker Award
Friday, July 17: Walter Camp Award
Ray Guy Award watch list
Devon Bell, Mississippi State
Mattias Ciabatti, South Florida
Korey Durkee, Washington
Luke Ferguson, Arkansas State
Will Gleeson, Ole Miss
Tyler Grassman, Buffalo
Tom Hackett, Utah
Hayden Hunt, Colorado State
Cameron Johnston, Ohio State
Drew Kaser, Texas A&M
Jamie Keehn, LSU
Alex Kinal, Wake Forest
Anthony Melchiori, Kent State
Will Monday, Duke
Peter Mortell, Minnesota
Dalton Parks, Tulsa
Austin Rehkow, Idaho
Drew Riggleman, Arizona
Dalton Schomp, FAU
J Schroeder, Western Michigan
JK Scott, Alabama
Taylor Symmank, Texas Tech
Alex Tardieu, Army
Justin Vogel, Miami
Logan Yunker, UNLV
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
