Johnny Townsend named a Senior CLASS Award finalist

Florida Gators punter Johnny Townsend was named a finalist for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award.

Townsend, a graduate student, earned his degree in Telecommunications in May of 2017. He is currently working towards a Masters of Science in Management. Townsend has been named to the to the SEC All-Academic Roll three times and was on the SEC First-Year Academic Roll in 2013.

On the field Townsend currently leads the nation with a 49.41 yard-per-punt average. He has recorded 22 punts over 50-yards and was named a Ray Guy Award Semifinalist. Townsend became Florida’s all-time leader in punt yards after the Georgia game in 2017, passing Eric Wilbur. With at least three games left Townsend has 10,320 punting yards.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of finalists follows this release.

A committee selected the ten finalists from the list of 30 semifinalists that were announced in October. Fans can vote for finalists here. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the football bowl season in early January.

Vote for Johnny Townsend by following this link.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC