Tulane’s Ryan Wright Selected as a Ray Guy Award semifinalist

Senior punter leads the American Athletic Conference in punting average

NEW ORLEANS – Tulane University senior punter Ryan Wright has been selected as one of 10 national semifinalists for the 2021 Ray Guy Award.

Wright received the semifinalist recognition after establishing himself as one of the top collegiate punters in the nation. In nine games this season, Wright owns the top punting average in the American Athletic Conference (47.8). His 47.8 yards per punt average also ranks as the sixth-best total in the nation.

In 2021, the San Ramon, California, native has totaled 38 punts for 1,816 yards. He also has 17 punts that have traveled over 50 yards and has 19 punts that have resulted in fair catches.

In addition, Wright has thrown a pair of passes on fake punts. His lone completion on the year went for 12 yards.

Wright was selected to the preseason Ray Guy Award Watch after he led the American Athletic Conference in punt average at 45.2 yards in 2020. He recorded 16 punts over 50 yards and 17 inside the 20 last season. In addition, Wright was named First Team All-AAC after the 2020 season.

No Tulane player has ever won the Ray Guy Award. Cairo Santos was the last Green Wave player to win a postseason special award, as he claimed the 2012 Lou Groza Award.

Throughout his career, Wright has totaled over 8,000 punt yards. He is one of only five Tulane players to surpass 8,000 career punt yards in program history.

The Augusta Sports Council created the Ray Guy Award in 2000 to honor Thomson, Georgia native and College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Ray Guy. Among the statistics used to identify the winner is net punting average, number of times 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 with particular emphasis placed on net punting average.

The winner must display team leadership, self-discipline and have a positive impact on the team’s success.

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