The Most Important Cowboy Football Players for 2017: No. 10

We’ve officially entered the Top 10 of our countdown. These are the players whose names you either already know, or should by season’s end.

Today, we’ve chosen a true specialist; OSU’s punter.

No. 10 Zach Sinor

Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports

Sinor has been the starting punter since game one of his redshirt-freshman season. It was last year though, that he turned into the machine we know as #SinorForHeisman.

In his sophomore season, Sinor finished as a Ray Guy award semifinalist (and got cheated out of being a finalist) and second-team All-Big 12 selection. He finished with the second best punting average in the Big 12 at 42.8 yds, and led the nation in percentage of punts downed inside the opponents 20 yard line (62.5 percent). Those are both made more impressive by the fact that he only punted 56 times all season.

Sinor’s ability to put hang time on the ball helped the Cowboys hold opponents to a total of 15 punt return yards last season, second best in the country. They also led the nation in opponents starting field position.

Still not impressed? How about this...

This must be his audition tape in hopes that Gundy will start throwing in fake punts, giving Sinor a chance to showcase his cannon.

There have been some great punters to kick under Mike Gundy including Quinn Sharp, Kip Smith, and Matt Fodge. Sinor may end up being the best ever, even if he doesn’t win the Ray Guy award... or the Heisman.

We will be releasing the rest of our countdown each day leading up to the Spring Game April 15th. Check back every day to see who makes the list!

Top 15 Countdown:

15. Matt Ammendola
14. Backup Quarterback
13. Tyron Johnson
12. Marcus Keyes
11. Jarrell Owens