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Thorson Wins Ray Guy Award As Nation’s Top Punter

Georgia senior punter Brett Thorson has been named the winner of the 2025 Ray Guy Award, which is presented annually to college football’s top punter by the Greater Augusta Sports Council.

In addition, Thorson was named a Walter Camp First Team All-American, and junior ILB CJ Allen was named a Walter Camp Second Team All-American.

Thorson, a native of Melbourne, Australia, received the award during Friday’s Home Depot College Football Awards Show on ESPN.  Thorson won the honor over the other two finalists in Troy’s Evan Crenshaw and Baylor’s Palmer Williams.  Drew Butler was the first and only other Ray Guy Award winner Georgia has had after the All-American collected the 2009 accolade.

Brett Thorson is that Guy!#GoDawgs | #RayGuyAward pic.twitter.com/cVcwceAe6U

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) December 13, 2025

The winner was determined by a national voting body comprising FBS sports information directors, media representatives, and former Ray Guy Award winners.  Thorson will be honored in Augusta at the award banquet. Thorson has 42 punts for an average of 45.2, including a long of 66 during the fifth straight win over Florida.  He has forced 22 fair catches and dropped 21 inside the 20-yard line, thanks in part to 13 balls that have traveled at least 50 yards.  Thorson has only four touchbacks and allowed a total of four returns for 15 yards.  

Georgia ranks eighth in the country in Net Punting at 43.1, while the Bulldogs lead the SEC and rank ninth nationally in Punt Return Defense at 3.60 yards per return.  Thorson ranks third in school history for career punting average (45.5) and is on pace to take over UGA’s top spot in career net punting (42.8).

Most recently, Thorson put Alabama’s offense in a variety of precarious spots during the Bulldogs’ 28-7 rout of the Tide in the SEC Championship Game.  Thorson punted seven times for an average of 45.3 yards, including a long of 59, as he dropped five inside the 20, had only one touchback and allowed the Tide minus-4 yards on one return.  He helped start Alabama’s possessions at the 8-yard line and 9-yard line twice.

MBB: Georgia Has A Holiday Hoopsgiving Date With Cincinnati Today

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

• Holiday Hoopsgiving
• Georgia (8-1) vs. Cincinnati (6-3)
• Date: Saturday, December 13, 2025
• Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
• Venue: State Farm Arena (19,050)
• Location: Atlanta, Ga.
• TV: ESPNU (Dave Neal, play-by-play; Mark Wise, analyst)
• Streaming: ESPN+
• Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 384 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
• Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

The Starting 5

• The Georgia Bulldogs – America’s most explosive offensive basketball team during the 2025-26 season – return to action on Saturday when they travel to State Farm Arena in Atlanta to face Cincinnati in a Holiday Hoopsgiving matchup at 2:00 p.m.
• Georgia enters this weekend leading the nation’s 365 Division I teams in scoring offense (99.9 ppg), scoring margin (+28.7), fastbreak points (28.7 ppg), bench scoring (44.6 ppg) and blocks (8.8 bpg).
• Georgia has topped the 100-point plateau in four of its first nine games…one shy of the Bulldogs’ single-season record of five century mark tallies during the 1990-91 campaign.
• The Dunkyard Dawgs have scored a nation-leading 22.6 percent of their field goals on dunks this season. Somto Cyril’s 22 dunks ranked No. 10 nationally on Friday despite not playing in 11 days.
• The Bulldogs are the only Power Conference team in the country with an 11-man rotation with every player averaging double-figure minutes and seeing action in every game.

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs – college basketball’s most explosive offense to date during the 2025-26 season – will play their first game following an 11-day break during Final Exams on the UGA campus on Saturday. The Bulldogs will face Cincinnati at 2:00 p.m. in a Holiday Hoopsgiving matinee at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Georgia enters this weekend leading the nation in all four point-related statistics tracked by the NCAA – scoring offense (99.9 ppg), scoring margin (+28.7), fastbreak points (28.7 ppg) and bench scoring (44.6 ppg). The Bulldogs also are the top rim protectors in the country, averaging 8.8 blocks per game – an almost unfathomable 1.7 bpg better than any other Division I team.

Georgia features the nation’s deepest Power Conference rotation while playing at a breakneck pace among the quickest in college hoops

Among the 79 Power Conference programs, the Bulldogs are the only team with 11 players averaging double-figure minutes, with everyone seeing action in every game. According to the widely used KenPom.com metric, Georgia enters this weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in average offensive possession length (14.0 seconds) and No. 6 nationally in adjusted tempo (74.6).

It would be hard to fathom a better beginning to the 2025-26 campaign for Georgia, at least statistically speaking. As of Friday, the Bulldogs were not only leading five of the 28 stats tracked by the NCAA, but also in the top 10 in nine categories and in the top 25 in 15.

Georgia’s depth is not just in numbers but also in its offensive production. Ten of the 11 Bulldogs playing double-digit minutes also have double-figure scoring outputs. Jeremiah Wilkinson and Blue Cain pace Georgia offensively, averaging 17.1 and 15.4 ppg, respectively. Kanon Catching provides a third double-digit scorer at 10.0 ppg, while two more Bulldogs are just shy of double figures, with Jake Wilkins averaging 9.4 ppg and Marcus “Smurf” Millender chipping in 9.2 ppg.

Scouting The Bearcats

Cincinnati enters Holiday Hoopsgiving with a 6-3 record.

Day Day Thomas leads the Bearcats on the offensive end at 13.9 ppg, while Baba Miller adds a double-double of 13.6 ppg and 11.1 rpg. Shon Abaev also contributes double digits in the scoring column at 12.0 ppg. Moustapha Thiam has scored 88 points, a single bucket shy of being a fourth double-figure scorer for UC.

The Bearcats and Bulldogs have faced two common opponents this season. Georgia defeated Xavier, 78-77, at the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic, while Cincinnati is coming off a 79-74 road setback to the Musketeers. UGA and UC also defeated Georgia State, the Bulldogs (64-61) in a preseason exhibition in Atlanta and the Bearcats (74-64) in their second regular-season outing.

Series History With UC

Cincinnati has won two of the previous three meetings between the Bulldogs and the Bearcats on the hardwood.

In the most recent matchup in Wes Miller’s first season at UC, Georgia dropped a 73-68 decision at Cincinnati despite an efficient career-best output of 24 points from Braelen Bridges. Georgia fouled down 70-67 with just 23 ticks left in regulation. Cincinnati missed the front end of a one-and-one but grabbed a crucial offensive rebound.

On Dec. 19, 2020, a 15-0 run to close out the first half propelled the Bulldogs en route to a decisive 83-68 victory over the Bearcats.

Cincinnati won the initial matchup, 57-51, on December 2, 2011. Then-freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 16 points paced the Bulldogs offensively.

Last Time Out

Jeremiah Wilkinson’s 22-point performance helped Georgia cruise to a 107-73 victory over Florida State in the ACC/SEC Challenge last Tuesday night in Tallahassee. Wilkinson notched his third consecutive 20-point performance, the first Bulldog to reach that mark in three consecutive games since Kario Oquendo in 2022.

The Bulldogs’ 34-point margin of victory was their largest against a Power Conference opponent since defeating Ole Miss 74-38 (36 points) on January 3, 1996

“I’m not overly surprised offensively, but I really liked our attention to detail,” head coach Mike White said. “Man, we can score it. We can, especially if we’re allowed to play in space and the open floor. These guys turn people over so much. We’ll struggle more probably against some of those other teams that really pack the paint and make us execute in half court, which we’ll continue to get better at, but we’re a talented offensive team.”

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