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Terrible, terrible news.
No Ray Guy semi-finalist nod for Gophers punter Peter Mortell. Was on candidate list. His stats put him a little ways outside the top-10
— Nate Sandell (@NSandell) November 14, 2014
As an "expert" on all things punting, I find this decision questionable at best. Before I call out the lack of wisdom shown by the Ray Guy voting committee, let's look at the semi-finalists...
| Player | Class | School |
|---|---|---|
| JK Scott | Fr. | Alabama |
| Scott Arellano | Sr. | BYU |
| Scott Harding | Sr. | Hawai'i |
| Austin Rehkow | So. | Idaho |
| Justin Vogel | So. | Miami |
| Tyler Wedel | Sr. | Northern Illinois |
| Cameron Johnston | So. | Ohio State |
| Drew Kaser | Jr. | Texas A&M |
| Tom Hackett | Jr. | Utah |
| Alex Kinal | Jr. | Wake Forest |
(Everything about to follow is meant humorously. I'm sure all these punters are fine candidates and snappy dressers.)
Here's the problem Ray Guy bros. In addition to booming punts a country mile (the only true way to accurately measure punt distance) and being a key part of the Jerry Kill "make 'em work for every point" gameplan, Peter Mortell has accomplished the following:
- Rocked a fantastic punter 'stache while delivering what had to be the most BA punter Icebucket Challenge video of the year:
- Had GIFs created in his honor that didn't involve him missing a snap while giving the world a freak out face (pretty much the only way punters are usually GIF'd):
- Was instrumental in the creation of what we can only assume is the only Specialist based Twitter account in D1 college football (note: I have no idea if that claim is even remotely true):
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- Helped create a practice schedule so full of arm curls that it made Ron Burgundy jealous and went viral across the national sports media landscape:
Today's specialist practice schedule: pic.twitter.com/nD6RwEA13Q
— Gopher Specialists (@MinnSpecialists) October 23, 2014
Did the other competitors do that? No, not they did not. Shame on you Ray Guy Award voters. This is nothing short of a dereliction of your voting responsibilities.
Seriously though, we here at TDG love the great punting work Peter has done as a Gopher and think he deserved a chance to win the award based on real, actual stats and his in game performance. But for reals, GIFs. I'm not sure what else they needed.