The Tulane Green Wave starting punter was nominated for his strong punting performance against Kansas State.
Close football games can often come down to the third phase, and the Tulane Green Wave are enjoying a bit of resurgence in that regard.
This last weekend against the Kansas State Wildcats, a new school record was set by kicker Cooper Helmke, who nailed a 58-yarder on his first collegiate field goal attempt, followed by a successful 53-yarder to record six impressive points.
While the Green Wave defense has struggled to get off the field on third down, they’ve done better with strong field positioning awarded by punter William Hudlow, who has been with the program since 2023 and seeing his first real action as the starting punter and holder this season.
And it’s been a really solid debut. After his performance against the Wildcats, it was announced that the redshirt junior was named a Ray’s 8 Week Three winner for the Ray Guy Award.
The Ray’s 8 is a list of the top eight punters from that prior week’s slate of games. Those eligible punters named to Ray’s 8 are eligible for the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week.
In order to be eligible for the Ray’s 8, punters have to be a current nominee of the Ray Guy Award, which means that Hudlow is on that list.
He was awarded for his efforts last Saturday, where he punted against Kansas State five times for 203 yards with a long of 51 yards and one placed inside the 20-yard line.
He has a season average through three games of 43.9 yards per punt, has had five of his 17 attempts land inside the 20, and has had six go for 50 or more yards.
Those numbers have him currently ranked third in the American conference and are good for a No. 25 national rank in punting average, an impressive feat for Hudlow in his first year as the team’s starting punter.
The Ray Guy Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which are the most prestigious awards in college football.
The award was created in 2000 in honor of Guy, a Thomson, Georgia native and College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. It looks at net punting average, percentage of punts inside the 20-yard line, and percentage of punts not returned.
There’s noted emphasis on the net punting average. The winner also must have other characteristics like leadership.
But for now, Tulane has a strong punter to aid field position as a critical weapon.
