Aug. 13, 2000

LAS VEGAS - UNLV senior Ray Cheetany is the best punter in college football according to Sports Illustrated.

The former junior-college transfer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who finished fourth in the nation in 1999 with a 45.4 average, topped a list of the game's top-five punters on the website CNNSI.com.

Cheetany who also kicked off for the Rebels a year ago, will be the team's place-kicker in 2000. He already earned preseason first-team All-America honors by Street & Smith's magazine and is a unanimous preseason first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection.

The only other MWC player to make the list at any position was Utah's Steve Smith, whom SI rated as the nation's ninth-best wide receiver and No. 2 return man.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED PUNTER RANKINGS
1. Ray Cheetany, UNLV, Senior2. Keith Cottrell, Florida State, Junior3. Dan Hadenfeldt, Nebraska, Senior4. David Leaverton, Tennessee, Senior5. Craig Jarrett, Michigan State, Junior