BYU’s Ryan Rehkow Named To Ray Guy Watch List After Record Punt

PROVO, Utah – BYU football punter Ryan Rehkow has always been viewed by the BYU coaching staff as a massive weapon.

But Rehkow’s arrival on the team has coincided with a stretch of play that hasn’t required his massive leg to be used often. So very few outside the BYU program understood how good the freshman punter from Veradale, Washington.

That changed on Saturday night as Rehkow earned national recognition by being named to the Ray Guy Award watch list. The Ray Guy trophy is an award given to college football’s top punter in a given season.

Congrats to Ryan Rehkow of BYU! He is officially nominated to our 2021 watch list!
__@r_rehkow24 @BYUfootball
__#RayGuyAward pic.twitter.com/lsnmXJsx2K

— Ray Guy Award (@RayGuyAward) September 19, 2021

Rehkow received the Ray Guy Award watch list recognition after booting an 83-yard punt near the end of the first quarter of BYU’s 27-17 win over No. 19 Arizona State.

The 83-yard punt went into the end zone for a touchback. It was the longest punt in BYU football history, surpassing an 81-yard punt by Scott Arellano in 2014 against Middle Tennessee.

Punter (and long snapper) appreciation post 👟🚀 pic.twitter.com/RUNxOt7SHW

— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) August 11, 2021

Through three games this season, Rehkow is fifth nationally in punt average at 51.4 yards per punt.

BYU football has never produced a Ray Guy Award winner

BYU has produced numerous award winners over the years, but they’ve never had a player win the Ray Guy Award. So maybe Rehkow, who’s only in his second year at BYU, could give them the best chance at producing a Ray Guy winner.

The 6-foot-6, 232-pound Rehkow comes from a family that has produced great punters. His older brother, Austin, was an All-American at the University of Idaho and was part of three different NFL franchises for four seasons.

Ryan has also shown an ability to be more than just a punter; he’s a pretty good athlete too. Last year, Rehkow popped off a 49-yard run on a fake punt. When Rehkow arrived on campus last season after serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to London, England, Special Teams Coordinator Ed Lamb said Rehkow was athletic enough to play linebacker or defensive end for BYU.

The next chance to watch Rehkow boom some punts will be this Saturday when No. 15 BYU hosts the USF Bulls in Provo. Kick-off against USF is set for 8:15 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2 and heard on KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM).

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.