Mark this down in the category of "It'd have been news if it didn't happen."
Utah's Tom Hackett and Andy Phillips are on the preseason watch lists for their respective position awards after Hackett won the Ray Guy Award in 2014 and Phillips was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award two years running.
Utah is one of just four schools to have players on both watch lists. Western Michigan, Duke and Washington are the others.
Hackett was tops in the nation in punts inside the 10 (19) and 20 (36), was third in punt average (46.7) and set a new school record for punt yards in a season (3,736). He's one of five Aussies on the Ray Guy radar, joining Ole Miss' Will Gleeson, Ohio State's Cameron Johnston, LSU's Jamie Keehn and Wake Forest's Alex Kinal. Australian-born Tom Hornsey, of Memphis, won the award in 2013.
Phillips was second in the nation last year in field goals made from 40-plus yards (12) and set a new school record for field goals made in a season (23). Overall, he's made 40 of 48 kicks attempted at Utah.
Utah is five-for-six so far on award watch lists — matching Andy Phillips' career FG percentage at 83.33 — with Devontae Booker, Jared Norris and Siaosi Aiono also receiving honors.
Here's the full watch list rollout schedule:
July 7 • Bednarik Award and Maxwell Award
July 8 • John Mackey Award and Rimington Trophy
July 9 • Lou Groza Award and Ray Guy Award
July 10 • Bronco Nagurski Trophy and Outland Trophy
July 13 • Jim Thorpe Award
July 14 • Butkus Award and Rotary Lombardi Award
July 15 • Biletnikoff Award and Wuerffel Trophy
July 16 • Davey O'Brien Award and Doak Walker Award
July 17 • Walter Camp Award
— Matthew Piper
mpiper@sltrib.com
Twitter: @matthew_piper
Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune University of Utah kicker Andy Phillips at the Utah football practice field on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, November 26, 2014.
Utah's Tom Hackett stands with his trophy after being awarded the Ray Guy Award as the college punter of the year at the College Football Awards, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune Utah kicker Andy Phillips during the Fremont Street Experience Pep Rally in Las Vegas Friday December 19, 2014.
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