Iowa State Football: Kirby Van Der Kamp Makes Ray Guy Award List

Special teams will be a big part of Iowa State football’s 2013 campaign. Mandatory Credit: Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 Ray Guy Award list was released today, and the Iowa State football team’s own Kirby Van Der Kamp makes the list for the second consecutive year.

The senior punter for the Cyclones has made other preseason watch lists, making the Ray Guy Award another one to add to the list. Last season, Van Der Kamp finished as a semifinalist as Ryan Allen of Louisiana Tech won the trophy.

Chip Patterson of CBS Sports’ Eye on College Football blog gives us more details about what the Ray Guy Award is.

"The Ray Guy Award, named for Georgia native and College Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy, is presented to the college punter of the year by the Augusta Sports Council. Among the statistics used to define punting excellence is net punting average, number of times a punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside the opponents 20-yard line, total yardage punted, average return yardage, and percentage of punts not returned."

25 candidates have been named, and TCU’s Ethan Perry will be the only competition in the Big 12 for now. Names can be added or removed in the first two weeks of the season based on injury and early performance.

Van Der Kamp is averaging 42.8 yards per punt in his career, second-best in Iowa State history. During last season, he averaged 41 yards on 77 attempts with 29 of those landing inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. His best performance came against the Texas Tech Red Raiders when he boomed four punts over 50 yards and averaged 49.3 yards over six total punts.