The punter can get you off your own goal line and can also put the opposing offense in a tough spot by placing the ball inside the 20 yard line. The kicker can also put the opposing offense in a tough spot on kick-offs, but main duties are handling the pressure of making points-after-touchdown (PATs) and field goals, which sometimes can win a game. I could not find a clip for Gramatica, but did find an NFL clip for Ray Guy. I would prefer to stay away from the NFL clips and references, but there weren't many cameras rolling on the Southern Mississippi campus in the early '70s.
Kicker
#10 Martin Gramatica, Kansas State (1995-1998)
- The 1998 Lou Groza Award winner connected on 187 of 192 PATS and 54 of 70 field goals during his career. He was an impressive 3 of 3 beyond 50 yards, including an NCAA record 65 yard field.
Punter
#44 Ray Guy, Southern Mississippi (1970-1972)
- A first team All-American selection in 1972, guy averaged 46.2 yards per punt that season. For his career, Guy averaged 44.7 yards per punt. He had three punts over 70 yards and a career long of 93 yards, an NCAA record. He also contributed at safety and place kicker, hitting a then-NCAA record 61 yard field goal. Guy was the first pure punter enshrined into the NCAA College Football Hall of Fame and also the first pure punter to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft.
I would go with Kris Brown of Nebraska as my second choice with his 116 consecutive PAT's, and also kicked FG's nearly as well as Gramatica. He did not quite have the power that Martin had though.
ReplyDeleteHowever my top choice would be Colorados Mason Crosby. Although Crosby's Percentages on PAT's werent as good but most of his misses were his freshman year as he did not miss a PAT his last 2 years. Also he had a leg that was very strong which was actually the reason for his not having as good of a FG %. Coach Dan Hawkins kept sending Crosby out to kick 63+ yard FG's. Also of his near 200 Kickoffs he had touchbacks on about 120 of them including a 87 yard touchback from his own 20 yard line against Iowa State.I do not think that anyone has the leg that Crosby did. I also think that his stats may not have been as good as Browns or Gramatica's simply because he played for Colorado who had a lot of trouble scoring. I think had he been on a better team his stats would also be better.