Penn State football punter Riley Thompson was named to the Ray Guy Award watchlist, the Augusta Sports Council announced on Tuesday.

The award is given annually by the Augusta Sports Council to the best punter in the FBS. Former winners include Eddie Czaplicki and Ryan Allen. The award was first given out in the year 2000 when Wisconsin’s Kevin Stemke won the award. A Nittany Lion has never won.

Thompson has played in 29 games for Penn State since 2023. In his best season in 2023, the punter averaged 45.8 yards per punt with a long of 56 yards. In that season, his net yards were 2250 with a 20-yard line percentage of 34.

Before coming to Happy Valley, Thompson spent time with FAU, where he averaged 45.4 yards per punt and stuck 42.6% of all punts within the 20-yard line.

Despite a successful season in 2024, which earned him a spot on the watchlist, James Franklin named kicker Gabe Nwosu the starting punter after the Nevada game. Penn State did not punt in the game against the Wolf Pack.

“Gabe, you know, he’s special,” Franklin said. “He’s the closest thing to Jordan Stout that we’ve had here. His A ball was always probably as good as we’ve ever had here.”