Cincinnati Football: Mason Fletcher earns AAC special teams player of the week

Mason Fletcher, the Bearcats sophomore punter, picked up AAC Special Teams Player of the Week following his stellar performance that included a career-best 67-yard punt in the 38-17 win over Miami on Saturday.

During the annual rivalry game, Fletcher punted five times with an average of 48.2 yards per attempt. The 67-yard kick was the longest punt by a Bearcat in more than a decade and tied for the eighth-longest in school history.

Fletcher was forced to punt from the end zone and Miami was expecting to have good field position until the explosive kick carried nearly 70 yards in the air before bouncing and being downed inside the 25-yard line.

In addition to earning weekly honors from the conference, Fletcher was also named to the Ray Guy Award watch list on Sunday. The Australian native ranks fourth in the country with an average of 48.0 yards per punt.

Cincinnati Football: Mason Fletcher earns AAC special teams player of the week

Prior to the season opener, Fletcher got a chance to reunite with his mom for the first time in two years. The Fletcher family traveled to Arkansas to watch Mason and his younger brother Max play against each other. Max Fletcher is a freshman punter on Arkansas.

Since he’s an international student and isn’t eligible to benefit from NIL deals, Fletcher recently announced that all the profits from his official merchandise (jerseys, shirts, etc) will be given to the team walk-ons for additional financial help.

The sophomore punter is currently on pace to break the single season program-record for yards per punt. During the postgame press conference on Saturday, Luke Fickell mentioned Fletcher’s impact via Cincinnati Athletics.

"“We have confidence in what he can do. He’s done a phenomenal job. He’s not rattled by the seven or eight guys that they tried to have come after him. Obviously he had the one coming out of the end zone that he hammered then it rolled. That was huge.”"