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After Boston College's season opening victory over Villanova that saw Eagles senior kicker Nate Freese kick a 39-yard field goal, go 3-for-3 on extra points AND punt the ball seven times for 271 yards (38.7 average, 43 yard long) including pinning the Wildcats inside the 20 twice, I fired off a rather harmless Tweet:
— BC Interruption (@bcinterruption) August 31, 2013
What was once a silly in-game Twitter hashtag I thought up in a dream is now a reality.
Boston College senior Nate Freese, one of the most accurate place-kickers in the nation who also handles kickoff and punting duties in 2013, has been named a candidate for the Ray Guy Award given annually to the nation's premier punter, the Augusta Sports Council announced on Friday.
Freese has punted 37 times and is averaging 42.5 yards per punt. A native of Strongsville, Ohio, he has downed 12 punts inside the opponents' 20 yard line and has recorded eight punts of 50 yards or more, including a season-long 65-yard punt at Southern California (Sept. 14). Additionally, Freese averages 42.5 yards per kickoff and has registered 24 touchbacks in 30 kickoffs through six games this season.
Freese is also a Lou Groza award candidate who enters Saturday's game at North Carolina ranked sixth among all placekickers in the NCAA's FBS in active career field goal percentage. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound senior is 52-of-63 in career field-goal attempts (83.6 percent). He is 6-for-6 this season and is 24-for-26 (92.3 percent) in field-goal attempts in the last two seasons.
It's not too late to jump on the #Freese4GrozaAndRayGuy bandwagon, people. It's a movement.