Consider this the year of underclassmen in college football.
A freshman just might win the Heisman Trophy, and there's better than a 50 percent shot that a sophomore will leave sunny Florida tonight with the Ray Guy Award, which is given annually to the nation's best punter.
UCLA's Chris Kluwe is a senior, but the award's two other finalists - Michigan State's Brandon Fields and Baylor's Daniel Sepulveda - are sophomores.
The fifth annual award, named after the Thomson native who is a perennial NFL Hall of Fame contender, will be handed out tonight in Orlando, Fla., as a part of ESPN's College Football Awards Show.
The finalists will be evaluated based on overall statistics and contribution to his team with an emphasis placed on net average, percentage of punts inside the 20-yard line, average return yardage and percentage of punts not returned. A national selection committee of college coaches, sports information directors and sports writers will decide the winner.
"These three finalists represent the best of the best in college punting," Guy said. "I am certain there is a deserving Ray Guy Award winner among them. ... Their statistics speak for themselves."
Each candidate's numbers speak loudly, too.
Fields hit 22 punts of more than 50 yards. He averaged 47.9 yards per punt this year, and his two-year average is 47.2 yards per kick.
"Brandon has all the tools to be a great punter," Michigan State's special teams coach Jim McElwain said. "He gives us an opportunity to create field position."
A sprained ankle slowed Kluwe down earlier in the year, but he rebounded to average 43.3 yards per kick, with 21 of those being downed inside the 20.
Sepulveda, a rare award candidate from Baylor, hit five punts that traveled more than 60 yards this season, and 24 that went more than 50. His net punt average (42.2), which takes into account return yardage, is second in the country.
The trio has emerged despite the favorites coming into the year being Southern California junior Tom Malone and Tennessee senior Dustin Colquitt.
Guy isn't the only Augusta connection to this evening's award show. Auburn senior cornerback Carlos Rogers, a Butler High alumnus, is up for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the country's best defensive back.
Rogers is going up against Miami's Antrel Rolle and Michigan's Ernest Shazor.
Reach Travis Haney at (706) 823-3304 or travis.haney@augustachronicle.com.
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