NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Postseason accolades continue to accumulate for Vanderbilt’s Matthew Hayball. The punter has been named an All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
Hayball was selected as the second-team punter by Walter Camp, the oldest All-America team in college football. The teams are selected by a vote of coaches and sports information directors and were announced Friday night during The Home Depot College Football Awards.
He is the 20th Vanderbilt player to receive All-America honors in the modern era (since 1965) and first since linebacker Zach Cunningham was a unanimous All-American in 2016. Hayball is the fourth Vanderbilt punter named an All-American since 1982, joining Jim Arnold, Ricky Anderson and Bill Marinangel.
The West Adelaide, Australia, native has capped his collegiate career as one of the best punters in Vanderbilt history. Hayball was named a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and was the first Commodore punter to earn first-team All-SEC since 1996. He owns the best career punting average in school history (46.5 yards per punt) and his two seasons as a Commodore each rank among the top-five single-season marks at Vandy.
This season, Hayball led the SEC and finished fourth in FBS with 47.6 yards per punt. He ranked seventh nationally with a net punting average of 43.1 yards and was the second-highest graded punter by Pro Football Focus (88.8). He pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line on 26 occasions.
He was named the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week following the Kentucky game after his seven punts went for an average of 50.3 yards. It was the highest single-game punting average for a Commodore since 1982, trailing only Jim Arnold’s 53.1 yards per punt against North Carolina in the Vandy record books.
Combined with his tenure at Florida Atlantic, Hayball appeared in 59 games, punting 289 times for 13,073 yards. He is one of two active punters across all divisions of NCAA football (FBS, FCS, D-II, D-III) to have eclipsed 12,000 career yards. His career average was 45.2 yards per punt and he pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard-line on 108 occasions.
