Michigan State Football: Bryce Baringer named to Ray Guy Award watch list

Next up on the 2022 preseason awards watch lists, on which multiple Michigan State Spartans are named, is MSU punter Bryce Baringer for the Ray Guy award. The Ray Guy Award recognizes the best collegiate punter in the nation.

Ray Guy posted the fifth-best average per punt in NCAA history at 44.7 yards over 200 punts at the University of Southern Mississippi, including three punts over 70 yards, before winning three Super Bowl rings with the Oakland Raiders.

Baringer, a sixth-year senior Waterford, Michigan native, sits at No. 3 in Michigan State history with 44.6 yards per punt. He set the single-season record at MSU in 2021 with 48.4 yards per punt, which is second in Big Ten history behind Reggie Roby’s 1981 season (49.8 per punt) at Iowa. The Spartans’ specialist earned a scholarship in 2021 after a year away from the team in 2019 and playing as a walk-on in 2020.

The full 2022 preseason Ray Guy Award watch list can be viewed in the tweet below:

The Augusta Sports Council crowns college football’s “premier punter” since creating the distinction in 2000. It presents the Ray Guy Award live on “The Home Depot College Football Awards” show hosted in Atlanta, Georgia on ESPN on Dec 8. Michigan State is yet to produce a Ray Guy Award winner since its inception.