AUGUSTA, Ga. (May 7, 2021) – Named a finalist in the award's inaugural year during the 2019 season, Northern Arizona senior
DJ Arnson was announced as the 2020 FCS Punter of the Year by the Augusta Sports Council Friday morning.
One of 22 candidates on the preseason watch list released all the way back in August of 2020, Arnson edged out nine other semifinalists in the past week to earn the award for his performance during the 2021 spring schedule.
Capping off the abbreviated season on a high note, Arnson earned the Big Sky's ROOT SPORTS Special Teams Player of the Week in the season finale against Idaho. A pair of punts pinned the Vandals inside their own 2-yard line, most impressively an 82-yard punt that covered 53 yards in the air before rolling 29 yards where the Lumberjacks downed the ball.
The 82-yarder trails only Bob Martin's 84-yard punt from 1975 on NAU's all-time list while also breaking Terry Belden's Walkup Skydome record of 81 yards. Tying Sacred Heart's Noah Gettman for the longest punt in the FCS this season, Arnson's kick was the longest in the subdivision since the 2017-18 season.
Of Arnson's 25 punts this past spring, 14 landed inside the opponent's 20-yard line and 12 were fair caught. Just one kick landed in the end zone for a touchback and opponents only returned three of the 25 for a total of 27 yards.
Finishing the season at a 43.96 punting average, Arnson remains the FCS's active leader in career punt average at 44.2 yards. Arnson will enter the fall season 1,854 yards away from NAU's career record for punting yardage, a total he surpassed in both 2018 and 2019.
Arnson's honor was determined by the FCS Punter of the Year Award national voting body which consists of FCS sports information directors as well as national sports writers. The Augusta Sports Council, also home to the Ray Guy Award, which is given to the top punter in the FBS, created the FCS Punter of the Year Award in 2019 to honor the best collegiate punter playing in the subdivision.
Among the statistics used to identify the winner is net punting average, number of times punt is downed or kicked out of bounds inside the opponents 20-yard line, total yardage punted, average returned yardage and percentage of punts not returned with particular emphasis placed on net punting average.
