William Hudlow Continues Being Recognized on Ray Guy Award Midseason Watch List

The accolades keep rolling in for Tulane Green Wave punter William Hudlow. He is now named to the midseason watch list for the 2026 Ray Guy Award, announced on Nov. 5.

It follows up his nomination for the Burlsworth Trophy on Nov. 3, an award that honors college football players who worked their way up from beginning their careers as walk-ons.

Now, he is up for the award that honors the most outstanding punter in college football nationwide.

The redshirt junior has had a really impressive season. He is averaging 47 yards per punt. 11 of his 38 attempts have landed inside the 20-yard line, which is on 29 percent of his punts. He has had 18 of those 38 attempts go for 50 yards or more, which is good for 47 percent.

That punting average not only leads the American Conference, but is good for seventh in the nation. It’s the best punting average for a punter at Tulane since Ryan Wright, who recently signed a four-year contract with the New Orleans Saints. It’s a noteworthy slate for a guy who is in his first year as the team’s primary punter.

The Green Wave lost two pieces of talent to the Florida Gators when Jon Sumrall took the job over there along with a solid portion of his staff: kicker Patrick Durkin and punter Alec Clark.

Those two shouldn’t have been easy to replace, and they weren’t. And yet, there’s been no drop off at all from the two former players who are now playing in the SEC.

They also had to replace special teams coordinator Jonathan Galante and his analyst, Gunner Hudspeth.

It’s safe to say that Chris Forestier and his assistant coordinator, Ricky Figurell, have taken over the positions fairly well and replaced those roles quite impressively with kicker Cooper Helmke and Hudlow, who has been all over the place recognition-wise this season.

Hudlow was named to several Ray’s 8 weekly lists throughout the season for his punting and now officially lands on the midseason watch list.

The Ray Guy Award Committee will whittle it down to 10 semifinalists that will be revealed on Nov. 13. Three finalists will come from that group, selected by a national voting group that includes FBS sports information directors, media reps, and previous Ray Guy Award winners.

They will then vote again to select the ultimate winner of the award for the nation’s top punter in college football. That winner will be announced on Dec. 11 during The Home Depot College Football Awards, and Hudlow will hope to keep hearing his name called.