The 2017 preseason watch list extravaganza rolled forward Wednesday with the release of the Ray Guy and Lou Groza watch lists. With apologies to the importance of both positions, we’re going to dump both watch lists in one post because, well, come on.
The Ray Guy Award carries a clear favorite into 2017 as reigning winner Mitch Wishnowsky returns to Utah after claiming the prize in 2016 after averaging 47.7 yards on his 64 punts. Interestingly, Wishnowsky did not lead the nation in punting last season; that honor belonged to Johnny Townsend of Florida and his 47.89 average on an equal number of boots. Townsend also returns in 2017.
On the kicking side, no returning winer claims favorite status, so we’ll give that to Auburn’s Daniel Carlson (28-of-32 a year ago) and Ole Miss’s Gary Wunderlich (22-of-23).
Lou Groza Watch List
Ricky Aguayo, Florida State
Matt Anderson, California
Stevie Artigue, Louisiana-Lafayette
Michael Badgley, Miami
Jonathan Barnes, Louisiana Tech
John Baron II, San Diego State
Aaron Boumerhi, Temple
Drew Brown, Nebraska
Daniel Carlson, Auburn
Emmit Carpenter, Minnesota
Bryce Crawford, San Jose State
Blanton Creque, Louisville
Tyler Davis, Penn State
Clayton Hatfield, Texas Tech
Greg Huegel, Clemson
Redford Jones, Tulsa
Kody Kroening, Fresno State
Austin MacGinnis, Kentucky
Tommy Openshaw, Vanderbilt
Eddy Pineiro, Florida
Canon Rooker, Middle Tennessee
Jason Sanders, New Mexico
Parker Shaunfield, Southern Miss
Skyler Simcox, Western Kentucky
Joey Slye, Virginia Tech
Luke Strebel, Air Force
Mike Weaver, Wake Forest
Matthew Wright, Central Florida
Gary Wunderlich, Ole Miss
Louie Zervos, Ohio
Ray Guy Watch List
Derek Adams, Kent State
Jake Bailey, Stanford,
Matt Bonadies, Middle Tennessee
Bailey Cate, Old Dominion
A.J. Cole III, North Carolina State
Jake Collins, Western Kentucky
Logan Cooke, Mississippi State
Steven Coutts, California
Trevor Daniel, Tennessee
Joseph Davidson, Bowling Green
Michael Dickson, Texas
Colin Downing, Iowa State
Corey Fatony, Missouri
Blake Gillikin, Penn State
Jonathan Hernandez, South Florida
Logan Laurent, Massachusetts
Wade Lees, Maryland
Johnny Linehan, BYU
Adam Nunez, TCU
Nick Porebski, Oregon State
JK Scott, Alabama
Austin Seibert, Oklahoma
North Carolina, Tom Sheldon, North Carolina
Zach Sinor, Oklahoma State
Spencer Smith, Memphis
Chris Tilbey, USC
Johnny Townsend, Florida
Shane Tripucka, Texas A&M
Mitch Wishnowsky, Utah