Washington Huskies Punter Makes Midseason Award Watchlist

The Washington Huskies football team's offense hasn't had the best year this season.

Plagued with injuries at running back, offensive line and quarterback, the Huskies rank 13th in the 18-team Big Ten in yards per game (371.8) and 14th in points per game (26.5).

This has led to the defense being tested over the course of the year, and, for the most part, they've answered the call.

UW's defensive unit ranks 11th in yards allowed per game (342.5) and 11th in yards allowed per game (21.1). Over the last three weeks, Washington's allowed a combined 36 points in wins against the Purdue Boilermakers and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The special teams has done well to assist the defense and set the opposing team up with favorable field position for the Huskies.

Heading those special teams efforts is fourth-year punter Hunter Green. In team's 17-10 win against Nebraska, Green punted eight times for 391 yards (48.88 yards per punt). He had a long of 63 yards, five punts land inside the 20-yard line and three punts travel 50-or-more yards.

Green has been one of the team's most consistent players this season, and earned an honor as a result.

On Thursday, the fourth-year punter made the midseason watchlist for the Ray Guy Award, which is annually awarded to the best punter in the country.

Green transferred to UW this offseason after a solid year in the Mountain West with the San Diego State Aztecs. The Redmond, Wash., native's father, Phil Green, was a walk-off kicker and defensive back and was a member of the team when it won the national championship in 1991.

"When you feel like you have to be in games where there's shootouts, when you feel ... you're not fully confident in where the punt will land if you're punting from the 48-yard line, you do not want them to get the ball on the 25," UW head coach Jedd Fisch said in a weekly news conference Monday. " ... And with an elite (punter) and with a really good defense, the best interest of the team is (is) make teams drive 90 yards on us. I think you can see, as you watch Big Ten play across the Saturdays, that the teams that are winning most consistently are playing really good defense and making offenses drive the ball."

Green is second on the Big Ten in yards per punt this season (48.1) and first in Big Ten in total punt yards (1,971).