Texas A&M football: 30 greatest players of all-time
By Jeff Shull
Stats – 50 punts, 2,059 yards, 51.0 average in the 2018 season
Accolades – 2018 Consensus All-American, 2018 All -SEC, 2018 SEC Special Teams Player of the Year, 2018 Ray Guy Award Winner
Team signature moment – Defeating the LSU Tigers at home for the first time since joining the SEC.
It feels weird putting special teams players on the list of best football players of all-time, even if it’s for one particular school. They don’t play as many plays as offensive or defensive players, so their inherent value to the team is not equal.
However, I made an exception when Braden Mann just put together easily the single most impressive season as a punter in college football history. Aside from maybe Dat Nguyen’s 1998 season or Johnny Manziel’s 2012 season, no other Aggie player in history can make that kind of claim.
Mann set the single-season record for average yards per punt. He set the single game record for average yards per punt when he booted five for an average of 60.8 yards per kick. He also set the record for most 60+ yard punts in a single season. His 82-yard punt against the Kentucky Wildcat is the third-longest in school history and longest since 1944.
You can try to argue there has been a better punter’s season, but you’d be laughably wrong. Aside from setting a record of downing teams inside the 20-yard line, he pretty much set every record one could ask for.