Player Spotlight: Purdue P Cody Webster

Story posted November 15, 2013 in CommRadio, Sports by Maddie Brightman

This weekend the Nittany Lions will take on the Boilmakers and the best kicker in the Big Ten. This past week, Cody Webster was announced as one of ten semi-finalists for the Ray Guy Award. The Ray Guy Award recognizes the most outstanding punter in college football and Webster was selected as a semi-finalist from a list of 85 punters, spanning all of college football.

The senior punter is ranked 10th nationally and first in the Big Ten in punting average (44.8 yards). With the help of Webster’s punting abilities, the Boilmakers are currently first in the FBS in net punting, with 43.1 yards.

Webster will return to his home state of Pennsylvania, this Saturday, to face the Nittany Lions for the third time during his career at Purdue. The 6-foot 1, 205 pound, punter is a native of Harrisburg, PA, and has yet to win against Penn State while in a Boilmakers uniform.

While in high school, Webster was a four time first team All-Mid Penn Conference punter and was named first team All-State punter during his senior year. He was selected to multiple All-Star teams and recorded a record-breaking 72-yard punt, in October of 2009. As a high school junior, Webster was placed on The Sporting News Top 50 Juniors in the Country to Watch list, and was ranked as the number four punter in the country by Chris Sailor Kicking.

As a freshman, Webster played in 11 games and handled a majority of the punting duties for the final 10 games of the season. He finished the season with 47 punts, 2,034 yards, and a punting average of 43.3 yards. At the time, Webster’s punting average was the third highest in school history. In 2010, Webster kicked a 79-yard punt against Northwestern that was later tied for the third longest punt in Purdue football history.

In 2011 and 2012, Webster appeared in all thirteen games. As a sophomore, Webster had 13 punts of 50 yards or more and had 11 kicks fall inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. In 2011, he made his first bowl game appearance in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on December 27th.

Last season, Webster punted 70 times for a total of 2,961 yards and a punting average of 42.3 yards. He tallied 17 punts of over 50 yards and 29 punts within the opponent’s 20-yard line. He recorded a season-high

72-yard punt against Wisconsin and punted for over 345 yards against Michigan.

This season, No. 42 has punted 55 times, and has already recorded 2,453 yards. He kicked a 73-yard punt in the season opener against Cincinnati and has tallied one touchback. His 73-yard punt during the season opener was the second longest in his career. Webster has been one of the few consistent and reliable players head coach Darren Hazell has been able to utilize this fall.

Webster will continue to put up career-high numbers during his final season at Purdue. Webster will look to finish the season as the number one punter in the Big Ten and the winner of the Ray Guy Award.

Maddie Brightman is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email mvb5601@psu.edu.