Over the next four days, Gator Country will preview the players that make up the 2013 Florida Gators football team as we inch closer and closer to the season.
Each day we will count down using the player whose jersey number corresponds with how many days there are left until Florida kicks off against Toledo in The Swamp on August 31.
Today we take a look at junior punter Kyle Christy.
History
Christy hails from Brownsburg Indiana where he played at Brownsburg High School and was one of the most sought after punters in the 2011 recruiting class. He chose Florida over LSU.
Christy’s career started off slow before he eventually took over the starting punting job for the last seven games of his freshman season. Christy averaged just under 41 yards-per-punt that season and 10 of his 30 punts were downed inside the 20.
Christy entered his sophomore season as the full-time starting punter and he didn’t disappoint. He averaged 45.8 yards-per-kick (fifth best in the country) and was a pivotal part of why Florida was so successful in 2012. You can point to turnover margin or how strong the defense was but without Christy’s clutch punting, Florida doesn’t finish the season 11-2, and that’s not debatable.
Christy was named a finalist for the Ray Guy Award last season and while he didn’t win the award, he enters this season as the favorite to take home the hardware this season.
Christy has been an almost unanimous selection as the first team All-American punter and was listed as the first team punter on every preseason All-SEC team.
Player Evaluation
Strengths
Christy has a great mix of leg strength, accuracy and gets his kicks off quickly. He averages well over five seconds of hang time on just about every punt. The ball explodes off of his foot and comes out with a high, powerful trajectory.
Weaknesses
Apparently he isn’t very good at riding scooters. Christy missed some time this spring after hurting his shoulder when he fell off of his scooter. Other than that, there aren’t really any weaknesses in his game.
What to Expect
Expect Christy to continue to improve on his yard-per-punt average this season and get close to a 50-yard average. He will get a lot of opportunities to work early on this season as the Gators continue to progress as an offense.
Expect Christy to improve on his numbers and don’t be surprised to see him working the awards circuit this postseason, as he is primed to bring a lot of hardware back to Gainesville.