Former Fort Mill football players up for national awards

Former Fort Mill football players are again on the watch list for national awards.

Worth Gregory, a former Fort Mill High kicker, and J.T. Boyd, a former Nation Ford lineman, are going into their final seasons of football at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Gregory is one of 28 punters on the Ray Guy watch list for best punter in college football. Boyd is one of 70 on the Outland Trophy watch list for the country’s best interior lineman. Both lists will be narrowed down throughout the upcoming college football season until the award is given out in December.

It is the third time Gregory has made the list for his position and second time Boyd.

“It feels pretty good,” Gregory said. “It is good to be on it, but I have to keep working as if I’m not on it.”

Gregory averaged 43 yards at punt last season for the Pirates and set a school record by placing 32 punts inside the 20-yard line. He punted the ball 60 times for 2,583 yards last year.

Boyd is a two-year All-American Athletic Conference selection and has played in 33 games for East Carolina entering his senior season, with 23 starts.

“It is an honor and a blessing to be recognized on the national stage,” Boyd said. “It’s a team effort for me being there. Being on the list for the second year in a row motivates me to do more than just be on the list, but to be a finalist, at least one of the top 10 interior linemen in the country.”

East Carolina opens the 2016 season Sept. 3 against Western Carolina at home in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Former Fort Mill football players up for national awards."