While much of the attention for All-American ballots will be focused on USC stars Matt Leinart and Mike Williams, one player should not go unnoticed: Punter Tom Malone.
Tom Malone unofficially has the highest punting averages in the nation...at 48.83 yards. However, to qualify for the official standings, a punter must average 3.6 punts per game. In the past month, he has been lucky to punt twice in a game as the USC offense has scored at will.
Nonetheless, Tom Malone was selected to the All-Pac 10 team. He also deserves consideration by All-American team voters and promotion by the USC Sports Information Department. Here's some interesting facts about Tom Malone's performance this season:
- Tom Malone and USC are the offical national leaders in net punting at 43.15 yards.
- Malone has a chance to break the all-time Pac 10 Season record for punting average, which is 49.3 yards set back in 1956. He is now second on the all-time list at 48.83, and will finish no worse at the end of the season.
- 22 of his 36 punts traveled more than 50 yards
- Less than half of Malone's punts were returned
- 31% of Malone's punts here downed inside the 20 yard line
To a casual football fan, these statistics may not be important...but they were a tremendous help to the USC defense and gave the offense good field position...that's why Matt Leinart has more Touchdowns than Carson Palmer with fewer passing yards.
Tom Malone needs eight punts Saturday to break into the national rankings, based on punts per game. That's not going to happen. Nonetheless, sportswriters should not ignore his role in helping to make the USC Trojans one of the nation's elite football teams once again.
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