Another Florida Gator just had their prayers answered on Saturday afternoon, with All-American punter Johnny Townsend being reeled in by the Oakland Raiders with the 173rd pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Townsend arrived in Gainesville as a decorated recruit, being a U.S. Army All-American and first-team all-state selection as a senior in high school. A graduate of Orlando Boone, Townsend also officially visited Ohio State prior to signing with the Gators. Cincinnati extended an offer during high school as well.
In his four seasons at Florida, Townsend racked up a total of 240 punts for 11,090 yards (46.2 avg.). As a sophomore, Townsend was a second team All-SEC pick and ranked 3rd in the country with a 45.4 punt average. Twenty-six of his 83 kicks on the year were fair catches and he pinned 30 kicks inside the 20 while only giving up five touchbacks.
In 2016 as a junior, Townsend led the country with an average of 47.9 yards a punt. He was named an All-SEC second-team pick once again. He forced 18 fair catches and dropped 27 punts inside the 20 while only allowing seven touchbacks.
In his final season, Townsend finished second in the nation with 47.5 yards a punt and placed 27 punts inside the 20 with five touchbacks and 13 fair catches. He finishes his Gators career by winning second team AP All-American and second team All-SEC honors.
Townsend graded out as a 5.00 prospect according to NFL.com, which states he has a “50-50 chance to make an NFL roster.” Townsend is the second best punter in the draft, and punters of his caliber have a market.
There are only a few elite punters in the NFL and Townsend can be one of them. Every NFL team knows the importance of field position and Townsend can flip the field.
GT's Michael Phillips contributed to this article
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Breakdown of Johnny Townsend from NFL.com:
"Townsend possesses natural leg strength and can get ahold of punts without seeming to exert much effort. Unfortunately, he has allowed too many return yards over the last two seasons due to a lack of hang time to distance traveled for the punt. While the leg strength is there, he'll need work on technique and operation time to close the gap between gross and net punts."
