Oct. 26, 2001

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State punter Steve Mullins was named as one of 10 finalists for the second annual Ray Guy Award recognizing the nation's top collegiate punter it was announced by the Greater Augusta Sports Council on Friday.

Mullins, a junior from Phoenix, Ariz., has had an outstanding year through six games as his 45.63 average ranks sixth in the nation and is on pace to beat the current school record of 44.8 set by Jerry Arguello in 1997.

Mullins has recorded at least one 50-yard punt in each of the first six games this year as well as in 22-of-28 games in his career. This year Mullins has dropped eight punts inside the 20-yard line as well. He has shown great consistency this season as 21 of his 27 punts have carried at least 40 yards.

The winner of the award will be named on the ESPN College Football Awards Show, which will air Thursday, Dec. 6.

While the punters are evaluated on overall statistics and contributions to their team with emphasis placed on the following categories: net average, punts inside the 20, percentage of punts inside the 20, average return yards and percent not returned, here is a look at all 10 Ray Guy Award finalists in order of punting average:

Player, School	Avg. (National Rank)
Travis Dorsch, Purdue	50.38 (1st)
Dave Zastudil, Ohio	46.96 (2nd)
STEVE MULLINS, UTAH STATE	45.63 (6th)
Jeff Ferguson, Oklahoma	45.05 (7th)
Damon Duval, Auburn	44.48 (9th)
Brooks Barnard, Maryland	44.47 (10th)
Jonathan Kilgo, Georgia	44.03 (17th)
Mike Abrams, Virginia	43.17 (27th)
Joey Huber, Colorado State	42.49 (34th)
Freddie Capshaw, Miami	44.5 (not enough punts to be ranked)

In addition to Mullins being a Ray Guy Award finalist, USU's Emmett White is a Doak Walker candidate and Kevin Curtis is one of 32 players on the Biletnikoff Award watch list.