Kentucky punter Max Duffy earns spot on preseason AP All-America first team
The 2020 preseason Associated Press All-America team is filled with stars whose teams won’t play college football until spring and others who’ve opted out of the season altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also features another rare inclusion: a University of Kentucky player.
Max Duffy, the reigning Ray Guy Award winner and a consensus All-America selection following the 2019 season, was named the first-team punter for the AP’s team, released Tuesday. Duffy was one of eight Southeastern Conference players chosen to the first team, and one of 12 named altogether.
Duffy, a senior, averaged a nation-leading 48.1 yards per punt and is Kentucky’s leader in career punt average (46.3). During the 2019 season he recorded 22 punts that went 50 yards or longer, and 24 of his 49 total punts landed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
If selected to the AP All-America first team again following the 2020 season, Duffy would be the first Wildcat to achieve that distinction in the program’s history. Bob Gain (1949-1950), Babe Parilli (1950-1951), Steve Meilinger (1952-1953) and Lou Michaels (1956-1957) were named first-team All-Americans in consecutive years, but none were chosen by the AP in both seasons.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 12:52 PM.
