Transfer special teamers named to preseason award watchlists
Jack Bouwmeester has been named to the Ray Guy Award watch list 🤘@jackbouwie x @RayGuyAward pic.twitter.com/KLruqUGQ3P
Texas special teams was a huge talking point during the latter parts of last season. The Longhorns special teams unit was the worst in the playoff field, according to ESPN's SP+. It showed up in huge moments, with multiple missed kicks against Georgia in the SEC title and against Arizona State in the Peach Bowl.
Sarkisian and company made a concerted effort to fix that problem in the portal, adding one of the top punters and kickers in the portal. Jack Bouwmeester comes in from Utah to take over the punting duties and Mason Shipley arrives from Texas State as the expected starting kicker for the Horns.
Bouwmeester was placed on the Ray Guy Award watchlist on Friday. The Ray Guy Award recognizes the best punter in the country every year, an award that Michael Dickson won for Texas in 2017. Bouwmeester is coming off a year where he averaged 44.7 yards/punt a year ago at Utah, which would improve Texas' mark from 2024 by 15 yards/punt. Bouwmeester also dropped 23 of 60 punts a year ago inside the 20-yard line, with only 4 touchbacks.
As for the kicking side, Mason Shipley was placed on the Lou Groza Award watchlist. Shipley was a spring portal addition from Texas State and is set to compete with Will Stone for the kicking duties this year. Shipley went 15-19 on FGs a year ago, not missing from inside 30 yards and 60-yarder. That comes off a year where he didn't miss a kick, going a perfect 15-15 in 2023. A year ago, Texas kickers went 16-25(64%) on FGs, so the addition of Shipley should improve that drastically.
Mason Shipley has been named to the Lou Groza Award watch list 🤘@MasonShipley1 x @LouGrozaAward pic.twitter.com/yxT6EKhq9M
Texas has had winners of both the Ray Guy and Lou Groza award winners, but during the 2024 run, there were a number of times where special teams let them down. Bringing in Jack Bouwmeester and Mason Shipley should give a boost to the Longhorns special teams unit. Special teams is often the decider in National Championship runs and Texas went out and got two guys that figure to be pieces in those major moments in 2025.
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