Ray Guy award 2012: Josh Hubner named semifinalist

Josh Hubner has had an incredibly successful season punting for the Arizona State Sun Devils, and has been recognized for it.

The youngster has been named one of the 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award, which is given out to the best punter in the nation every year. From that group, three will be named finalists on Nov. 19 before a winner is announced Dec. 6 on ESPN during The Home Depot College Football Awards.

Hubner is a large punter at 6'4 and 238 pounds, but his unorthodox look hasn't stopped him from excelling on the field. The senior put 16 punts inside the 20-yard line out of his 38 attempts on the year. Overall, Hubner has averaged 47.42 yards per punt, helped out by a booming kick of 73 yards, his longest of the year.

Many times the contributions of punters are often overlooked, but Hubner has been so exceptional that his head coach can't help but gush when talking about him.

"Our punter is absolutely exceptional," coach Todd Graham says. "Our punter is, no question in my mind, the best punter in the country. He has done a phenomenal job. He has really been a weapon for us, an absolute weapon for us. I am really proud of Josh and how he has performed. He has been phenomenal."

Special teams coordinator Joe Lorig also has plenty of positives to offer about Hubner, who gives it everything he has day in and day out.

"Josh has done a great job and one thing that has really stood out to me is his tremendous work ethic," Lorig says. "He's one of the hardest working guys I've ever been around and he takes a lot of pride in being the best punter in the country."

Over the course of his career, Hubner averages 43.6 yards per punt, ranking him third all-time in Arizona State history.