Penn State punter [autotag]Riley Thompson[/autotag] was honored this week for his performance in Week 2. Thompson was named the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week by the Augusta Sports Council and Ray Guy Award.
In Penn State’s Week 2 victory over Bowling Green, Thompson punted four times with an average of 47 yards per punt. Two of his punts landed inside the 20-yard line to pin Bowling Green’s offense deep on their side of the field. Each of those came in the fourth quarter as Penn State was working to protect a lead in what turned out to be a 34-27 victory.
Thompson launched a 56-yard punt in the first quarter when the Nittany Lions hit a bit of a rut on offense early on in the game.
Thompson currently ranks 15th in the nation with a punting average of 45.5 yards per punt. Thompson is on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award, which is given to the nation’s top punter. Penn State has never had a Ray Guy Award winner since it was first awarded in 2000, but the Big Ten has a number of winners. The last two winners of the Ray Guy Award came from the Big Ten with Iowa’s Tory Taylor in 2023 and Adam Korsak of Rutgers in 2022. In all, the Big Ten has had five Ray Guy Award winners.
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