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If Kyle Whittingham got bonuses based off of All-America honors for his kickers and punters, he’d be one of the best paid coaches in the country. After a serious run by Tom Hackett and Mitch Wishnowsky, Matt Gay is building an impressive resume.
Here’s a list of the teams that both Gay and Wishnowsky have been named to thus far.
2017 All-America Honors
Matt Gay
Associated Press (1st team)
FWAA (1st team)
Walter Camp (2nd team)
Sports Illustrated (1st team)
SB Nation (1st team)
Bleacher Report (1st team)
College Football News (1st team)
The All-American (2nd team)
Sports on Earth (2nd team)
Pro Football Focus (2nd team)
Mitch Wishnowsky
Walter Camp (2nd team)
FWAA (2nd team)
Associated Press (3rd team)
Sports on Earth (2nd team)
And per the press release from Utah Athletics today:
Three of the teams used by the NCAA to determine the season’s consensus All-Americans have now been announced—Walter Camp, AP and FWAA—and Gay and Wishnowsky have been named to all three. Sporting News, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the consensus teams will be released this week as well.
Could Utah have two consensus All-Americans on the team? I think Gay is a virtual lock, but I’m not sure about Wishnowsky. I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes either way for him. Mitch was really good this year, but an injury slowed him down a bit, and you could tell he was about a half a step off on a lot of his kicks down the stretch. In one less game, thus far, Mitch has punted 18 fewer times, which shows the improvement on offense, but his average did drop by 3 yards per kick. He also had 18 fewer kicks that were pinned within the 20 and 19 fewer that were 50+ yards. Of course, that fake punt he ran against Washington was a thing of beauty and deserves all of the honors.