Tory Taylor details impact LeVar Woods has had on his career

Tory Taylor wrapped up one of the most prolific punting careers of any punter in NCAA history, and at least statistically, will go down as the top punter in Iowa Hawkeyes history.

Now the reigning Ray Guy Award winner, Taylor joined On3’s Andy Staples to discuss his beginnings as a product of ProKick Australia, and the impact that Iowa special teams coach LeVar Woods had as Taylor’s primary recruiter.

“He was the first on the phone and he recruited me from Australia, which is probably the most important part,” Taylor told Staples. “But I think one thing that I really liked about [Woods] especially the last couple of years of my career was that he really just emphasized me being me. Not trying to be someone I’m not. … It was never any of that. It was just like, ‘Well, what are you good at? Let’s do that.

“So that’s one thing that I’m really grateful for. And he’s just a really good person. I’m really grateful to have built a strong relationship with him and his family and grateful for him more so as a person, not even really as a coach.”

Once Woods got Taylor in Iowa City, the rest is now history. 2023 was Tory Taylor’s fourth with the program and it was a phenomenal one that culminated in winning the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best punter. He averaged 48.2 yards per punt on 93 punts this season for a total of 4,479 yards on punts.

For his career, Taylor has punted 295 times for a total of 13,657 yards. That’s an average of 46.3 yards per punt for his career. That makes him the most prolific punter in Iowa history.

Taylor racked up 4,479 total punting yards, 896 more than anybody else at the position. Not only that, he racked up over 1,000 more yards punting than Iowa’s offense gained all year. Not only Iowa — but Taylor managed to punt for more yards than 33 offenses gained across college football in 2023.

Due to Iowa’s offensive woes during his stay at Iowa, Taylor has been made very busy for his entire career. He has totaled 80 or more punts in each of the last three seasons for Iowa, where he averaged over 45 yards per punt each time. His career-long punt was a 70-yarder that he booted in 2022.

Now, he’s off to the NFL Draft. It will be interesting to see where Taylor will land, as punters are not too sought after in draft ranks. And despite Taylor winning the Ray Guy Award this past season, Australian-style punters are still working their way into the traditional form of punting we’ve seen in the NFL over the last few decades.