Oregon's Ross James Sets Sights on the Ray Guy, If He Gets Enough Work to Get Him By

It could be that junior Ross James of the Ducks is the nation's best punter. He's tied with one other guy in EA Sports College Football 2025 with a rating of 85.

Last season he blasted his kicks for an average of 48.4 yards. He kicked 11 inside the 20 with only one touchback.

James told the media this spring that he's been working in the weight room to increase his whip and explosion. He's added some muscle to his lean frame, now 6-2 and 190 pounds. At practice in April he uncorked one from his own end zone that travelled 50 yards, with a hang time of 4.78 seconds.

The ability to do that consistently is a weapon of immeasurable value for a defense. Football is a field possession game, one where an offense has far fewer options inside its own 15 than it does at the 35. Ross has the ability to flip the field, which, in punter parlance, is bailing your team out of a bad situation where the opponent is about to get the ball back in scoring territory.

Putting a ball inside the ten or the five gives the defense a chance to make a big play while putting the maximum amount of pressure on an opponent. Teams score on an average of 25% of drives that begin inside their own 10. From their own 40, it rises to more than 50%.

A good punter makes the opponent go farther, increasing the chances for a turnover or a failed drive. A touchback gives the other team 20 free yards and room to operate, opening up the playbook. One of the dumbest plays in football comes when a punter hits one 50 to 60 yards that tumbles into the end zone. If that same punt goes out of bounds at the two, he's put the visitors in a treacherous spot.

James does that almost better than anyone in the game-- last season his per-kick average would have been good for third in all of college football. The one problem he has is that he doesn't get enough work: The Oregon offense is so efficient that they're either scoring or going for it on 4th down. James only punted 27 times.

He's also the holder on place kicks and extra points, so in that assignment he's as busy as The Duck doing pushups.

The Augusta Sports Council gives out the Ray Guy Award, the Heisman Trophy for punters, every year in December. It's named after the former Raider and Southern Mississippi punter who almost hit them into the Goodyear Blimp or the roof of the Super Dome.

At their website it says, "Nominees are evaluated on their overall statistics and contribution to the team, with a focus on net average, percentage of total punts inside the 20-yard line, and percentage of punts not returned."

The last two winners have come from the Big Ten, but those guys won their Ray Guy punting for Iowa and Rutgers, two teams that punt all the time. The punt is the best play in the Hawkeye offense.

For James to win (he'd be the first Oregon winner ever) he'll have to be tremendously focused and consistent, given how seldom Dan Lanning has him line up to kick. James told the media, "If you don't know the importance of having a strong mental aspect of the game, you're not going to be set up for success. That's something we stress a lot here, being strong mentally."

Special teams coach Joe Lorig told reporters, "Even when he didn't know I was watching, He just worked his butt off and became a really effective weapon for us last year. People don't really see it, but it had a big impact on a lot of games."

Oregon seems poised to have their strongest and most relentless defense. A mentally strong punter is an extension of a defense, a weapon that gives his guys a chance to be stifling.

If he does that in his limited opportunities, James could be the Guy. It'd help in the quest for a national championship, and individual awards are always good for recruiting.