Shane Beamer tweets Kai Kroeger got Ray Guy Award snub: Do voters 'actually watch football?'

COLUMBIA — South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer took to Twitter on Tuesday to express his frustration that Gamecocks punter Kai Kroeger was not selected as a finalist for the Ray Guy Award.

"Do the people that vote on this actually WATCH football?" Beamer wrote. "What a joke."

Beamer also retweeted several national reporters who called out Kroeger's absence, including The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach, who called it "the biggest snub of award season so far."

Kroeger, who was been named to the Ray's 8 top weekly punters list six times, was among the biggest playmakers for South Carolina (8-4) this season. He ranks second in the nation in yards per punt at 46.83 and is eighth in punts inside the 20-yard line (27) with just five touchbacks.

The junior punter also has three pass completions for 84 yards and a touchdown. Kroeger threw for the Gamecocks' lone touchdown in their 38-6 loss to Florida, and he hit five punts inside the 20-yard line with an average of 53.7 yards in a program-defining upset of then-No. 8 Clemson.

Kroeger was among the 10 semifinalists for the award but was not selected one of the three finalists. The finalists are Cincinnati's Mason Fletcher, Michigan State's Bryce Baringer and Rutgers' Adam Korsak.

Beamer was similarly vocal in 2021 after Gamecocks kicker Parker White was left off of the Lou Groza Award finalist list. White holds the program record for all-time scoring.

"It’s a complete joke that he is not a semifinalist,” Beamer said last season. “That is a travesty. I don’t know who is on the selection committee for the Groza Award ... but they clearly don’t know much and don’t watch much college football to not have Parker White as a semifinalist."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Shane Beamer: South Carolina's Kai Kroeger got Ray Guy Award snub