Tennessee Vols Punter Trevor Daniel a Ray Guy Award Candidate

Tennessee Volunteers redshirt junior Trevor Daniel was announced Monday as a Ray Guy Award candidate for the best punter in college football.

He has had a bit of a drop-off this year compared to last year, but Tennessee football punter Trevor Daniel is still getting national recognition. The Vols junior is one of 66 candidates for the Ray Guy Award for 2016.

Daniel was announced Monday by the Augusta Sports Council, according to UTSports.

For the season, Daniel has punted the ball 51 times for 2,265 yards, an average of 44.41 yards per game. He has nailed 20 punts inside the 20-yard line along with 15 punts of 50 yards or more.

The numbers are slightly down from last year, when Daniel averaged 45.7 yards per punt and nailed 25 inside the 20-yard line along with 22 punts of 50 yards or more.

However, with four games left, he has a chance to improve on those numbers.

Either way, though, these numbers are pretty darn good for a former walk-on punter who was not expected to even compete for the starting job going into last year.

Now, he has become one of the biggest weapons Tennessee football fans could enjoy.

And it’s one of the few bright spots of the team over the past four weeks.

Of course, Daniel is only one of 66 candidates on this list, meaning he is not too special.

But his yards per punt average this year is ranked No. 18 in the country, so it’s not like he isn’t a legitimate candidate for the award. He just has to dramatically improve his numbers over the final four weeks to actually have a chance to win the award.

One thing is sure, though. Daniel has continued in the Tennessee tradition of being Punter-U, just like Matt Darr and those Colquitts before him.

And that’s something to be proud of.