ORLANDO---Last year, we had the first two-time winner of the Ray Guy award. This time around, it's the first winner from the peach state.

Georgia Tech punter Durant Brooks, a native of Macon and finalist for the second year in a row, takes home the honor as the nation's premier collegiate punter. Brooks has the highest career average in ACC history at nearly 45 and a half yards per punt. This season alone, he had four punts of 60 or more yards.

This is a punter who grew up in Georgia and attended Ray Guy's kicking camps as a young player. Moments after Durant won the award, he talked what it means as a punter to be recognized with the award bearing Ray Guy's name. "Now it's become a serious award," Brooks said. "Punters are here to help out the team and before they weren't recognized as much. It lets people know how much a punter means to a team."

Brooks will try and become the third consecutive Ray Guy award winner to be taken in the following NFL draft, following in the footsteps of past winners, Ryan Plackemeier and Daniel Sepulveda.