SAN MARCOS, Texas – Seamus O'Kelly was named to the 2023 Ray Guy Award Preseason Watch List by the Augusta Sports Council on Wednesday as the senior is among the initial top-50 candidates for the annual award given to the nation's top punter.
 
O'Kelly, who is entering his fifth season in a Bobcat uniform, has been Texas State's starting punter in every season since his first in 2019. The Brisbane, Australia native enters this year as the Bobcats' career leader in punts (256) and total yards on punts (10,107). The 256 career punts are also the most among active Division I FBS punters going into the 2023 campaign.
 
Last year, O'Kelly was on the Ray Guy Award Watch List and averaged 40.5 yards on his 73 punts. He had eight punts over 50 yards and 13 inside the 20-yard line. He was also third in the country in fair catches (35) while he had a return rate of 18.9 percent, which was 33rd-lowest in the nation according to PFF.
 
In his career, O'Kelly has been named All-Sun Belt honorable mention by the conference coaches and media in 2020 as well as all-conference second team by PFF and fourth team by Phil Steele that same season.
 
The 2023 watch list was compiled based on the 2022 Ray Guy Award Semifinalist List, the top-10 NCAA punters from 2022, the 2022 all-conference teams, the 2022 All-American Teams, the 2023 preseason all-conference teams and eligible punters on the 2022 watch list.

The number of eligible candidates for this season will grow when the award opens nominations on August 3. The complete list of candidates will be released on November 6. In mid-November, the Ray Guy Award committee will meet to select the 10 semifinalists, who will be announced on November 10. A national body of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sports information directors, media representatives and previous Ray Guy Award winners will then vote for the top three finalists to be announced on November 22. After the finalists are named, the voting body will cast ballots again to select the nation's top punter. The winner will be announced live during The Home Depot College Football Awards airing on ESPN in December 2023.
 
The Bobcats opened fall camp on Wednesday. The season opener against Baylor is 32 days away on Sept. 2 (6 pm, ESPN+).