Texas P Michael Dickson wins the Ray Guy Award

After falling just short last season, Texas Longhorns punter Michael Dickson has been named as the 2017 Ray Guy Award winner, which is given annually to the nation’s top punter.

The Australian native outlasted Utah senior Mitch Wishnowsky and Alabama senior JK Scott for the honor.

At the tail end of his third season on the Forty Acres, Dickson has taken home back-to-back Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year awards after booting 73 punts for 3,532 yards throughout the 2017 season, which is good for a career-high average of 48.4 yards per punt. With this effort, Dickson is on pace to break the school record he set last season with an average of 47.4 yards per punt.

Dickson became just the second player in conference history to earn Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year honors twice, joining Kansas State’s Tyler Lockett (2013-14).

After proving to be a true field-flipping threat throughout his tenure at Texas, especially during his award-winning junior season, Dickson led the nation in yards per punt and ranked second in total punting yardage. Dickson’s net average of 44.7 yards per punt also headlines college football, as well.

34 of his 73 punts traveled at least 50 yards, with 14 reaching 60 yards, including a career-long effort of 76 yards against TCU. More notably, Dickson downed 32 punts inside the 20-yard line, 27 inside the 15, 14 inside the 10 and six within the five-yard line.

After finishing as a finalist last season, Dickson now becomes the Longhorns first ever Ray Guy Award winner.