The watch list, which
includes three Big East Conference players, was announced by the Greater
Augusta Sports Council.
This year’s watch list is headed up by Cincinnati Bearcat punter Kevin Huber, the only returning top three finalist for the 2007 Ray Guy Award. Rob Long of Syracuse is the other Big Eat player on the list.
The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in early-November.
The national voting body will then vote for the top three finalists, and
ultimately the winner. The top three finalists will be announced in
late–November, and the winner of the Ray Guy Award, which is
affiliated with the National College Football Awards Association, will
be presented live on ESPN during the ESPNU-Home Depot College Football
Awards Show on December 11, 2008.
McAfee is the Mountaineers punter for the third-straight season. He is also WVU’s field goal kicker and handles the kickoffs for the fourth straight
year. He is averaging 43.3 yards per punt this season with
a long of 64 yards. He has three punts of more than 50 yards and has
kicked placed four inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Last season,
McAfee finished with 46 punts for 1,962 yards, an average of 42.7 yards
per punt with a long of 71 yards.
The Greater Augusta Sports Council created the Ray Guy Award to honor
Thomson, Georgia-native and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray
Guy, arguably the greatest punter to play football. The award was first
presented in 2000. The Ray Guy Award is determined by a national
selection committee made up of sports writers, college football coaches,
sports information directors, and past Ray Guy Award winners. Among the
statistics used to identify the Ray Guy Award winner are total yardage
punted, number of times a punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside
the opponents 20-yard line, net average, average returned yardage, and
percentage of punts not returned. It is also of importance for the award
winner to display team leadership, self-discipline, and to have a
positive impact on the team’s success.