Kentucky has the best punter in America: Max Duffy named Ray Guy Award winner
The 2019 University of Kentucky football team has earned its second national Player of the Year honor.
Max Duffy, a junior punter, was named the winner of this year’s Ray Guy Award, presented annually to the nation’s top punter, during the College Football Awards presentation Thursday night. He beat out two other finalists, Syracuse’s Sterling Hofrichter and Houston’s Dane Roy.
Duffy is the first player from Kentucky to win the award and the fourth winner from the Southeastern Conference, joining Georgia’s Drew Butler (2009), Florida’s Chas Henry (2010) and Texas A&M’s Braden Mann (2018). Duffy averaged 48.6 yards on 47 punts in the regular season, the best average among all FBS punters in 2019. Roy, a senior, averaged 46.9 yards on 54 punts while Hofrichter averaged 43.9 yards on 69 punts, the seventh most punts this year at the FBS level.
Duffy’s average was nearly a yard higher this season than Mann, a senior who was named to the All-Southeastern Conference First Team by the league’s coaches this week. Duffy was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the coaches but was a First Team selection by The Associated Press.
In UK’s 29-7 win over Missouri, Duffy ran for 26 yards to convert a first down. His kicking style, and the patience with which he kicks, enables more variance in Kentucky’s approach on special teams.
“You see some guys punt and they just catch the ball and watch the ball the whole time and then they kick it and they haven’t sent one single guy to come block the kick,” Duffy told Big Blue Nation TV last month. “Well, why kick it? Just hold onto the thing as long as you can. That’s one of the main things that I try and do that I think maybe sets me apart a little bit. I may not have the strongest leg but I think I’m good at judging what they’re trying to do.”
The Ray Guy Award has been presented since 2000. It is named after Ray Guy, a former All-American out of Southern Mississippi and the first punter to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. He played his entire career with the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, winning three Super Bowls, and was a seven-time Pro Bowl participant. Guy is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Duffy joined fellow junior Lynn Bowden as a national award-recipient this week. Bowden was named this year’s Paul Hornung Award winner on Wednesday.
▪ Earlier Thursday night, Duffy was named a First Team All-American by Walter Camp, the nation’s oldest All-America team.
Duffy became UK’s second consecutive Walter Camp All-American and 11th overall. Linebacker/defensive end Josh Allen was named to the First Team last season as well.
The 2019 Walter Camp All-America team will be honored at the organization’s 53rd annual national awards banquet on Jan. 18, 2020, at the Yale University Commons in New Haven, Conn.
Next game
Kentucky vs. Virginia Tech
What: Belk Bowl
Where: Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
When: Dec. 31 at noon
TV: ESPN
Records: Kentucky 7-5, Virginia Tech 8-4
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 8:36 PM.
