Photo courtesy of Tim Goodenow University’s Jimmy Gregg is the 2025 Fulton Walker Award winner, selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

MORGANTOWN — Jimmy Gregg statistics for his senior season at University High were staggering.

The nationally-rated punter booted 49 punts for 2,246 yards, an average of 45.83 yards. Opponents didn’t have many opportunities to gain yards on returns, as Gregg’s 45.14 yards net average attests.

All season, Gregg had no touchbacks.

Zero.

Pinning opponents against their own goal line was commonplace for the Hawks star specialist.

For his dominant season as the best special teams player in the state, Gregg has been selected as the Walker Award winner by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

“It just means the world to me,” Gregg said when learning of the Walker Award recognition. “I was really, really close to (Huntington’s) Jordan Price (last season’s Walker Award winner), and I told him that was a goal for me this season. I told him, ‘I’m going to do it next.'”

Precision is the name of Gregg’s game too. He pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line 25 times and inside the 10-yard line 13 times this season.

Four times, Gregg’s punts were downed inside the one-yard line.

“I wanted to have a perfect season (no touchbacks),” Gregg stated. “I work on control. I can hit a huge ball that hangs in the air forever, but if I can hit a ball that sets up (the opponent) deep, it helps my team.”

Advantageous field position boosted the dominant Hawks already lauded defensive unit, which helped University to a 7-3 record and a No. 7 rating in Class AAAA.

The Hawks defeated Parkersburg 62-14 in the first round of the playoffs and upset No. 2 Huntington 35-28 on the road in the quarterfinals, before bowing out in the semifinals to No. 3 Martinsburg, the then-defending state champion.

University head football coach Eric Snyder said Gregg has extensive knowledge and skill in punting, working on details like ball drop and foot placement. He likened his approach to a punt to how a golfer sets up a shot.

“He uses different ’tilts’, like selecting a golf club, to control his punts,” Snyder explained. “He has his wedges and he has a powerful driver. He practices consistently, including offseason reps and extra training sessions.”

Gregg’s punts have been routinely known to “bite” the turf, stopping momentum before heading toward the end zone, and “kicking out” sideways, out of bounds. An unreturnable ball, inside the opponent’s five-yard line.

A perfect golf shot, in that sport’s strategic vernacular.

Gregg stated that all of the work he has put in, has been worth it.

The Walker Award is the latest of his accolades, which include being rated the No. 1 high school senior punter in the nation by 247Sports and signing with Syracuse to continue his athletic and academic career in college earlier this month.

He becomes the first West Virginia high school punter to win the Walker, with the previous 11 winners being place-kickers or kick/punt return specialists.

“I hope this opens the door for other pure punters (to win the Walker) in the future,” Gregg said. Snyder said Gregg’s impact on the UHS team was significant.

“Number one, I think one of the most important things he did for our program was turn around the weight room culture,” Snyder said. “He made it more fun and made it more positive for kids to try their best. He had the whole team behind him. He even had other teams behind him.

(University’s) baseball team is in there now lifting with us. He got them fired up. He had a huge impact on where we want our program to go.”

Snyder said Gregg wasn’t always exclusively a punter. He was a versatile football player in middle school, the coach explained.

“I remember watching Jimmy play football in his eighth grade year,” said Snyder. “He was a tight end/ outside linebacker until his sophomore year in high school. That year, our special teams coach Donnie Tucker at UHS, who’s also a former coach on the (West Virginia University) Mountaineer staff told him, ‘Hey Jimmy, you’ve got a future in (punting) if you put your mind to it.’ And that’s all he needed. Once Jimmy heard that, he’s like, ‘Well, all right, that’s my job from now on.'”

“How many first downs did our opponent have to get, just to make up the field position that he flipped?” Snyder wondered aloud. “Those kind of yards kind of get hidden. We can talk about his punt average and the number of punts he had inside the 20, numerous punts around the one-yard line. But if we went three-and-out and the other team went three-and-out, we were still going to make yards. It’s going to be hard to replace a young man like Jimmy Gregg. Those were significant gains that we’ll need to make up.”

Gregg is graduating University High School early, and plans to report to Syracuse in the next few weeks for the spring semester.

“I’m a mid-year enrollee,” Gregg explained. “I think with a guided off-season (training with the staff at Syracuse), it will be more beneficial for me.”

Orange coaches have told Gregg that he will have a shot at becoming the team’s starting punter as a true freshman. Punting inside the JMA Wireless (former Carrier) Dome, against Power Four, ACC opponents, will likely come quickly.

“They’ve made that unequivocally clear on my official visit and every time I’ve talked to them,” Gregg explained, adding Syracuse is losing its current punter to graduation. “There’s no one who can stop me from achieving my goals,” Gregg added, matter-of-factly. “I believe there’s nobody who can do what I do, the way I do it.”

Gregg has been accepted to the prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse. He will have an opportunity to go straight into a direct feeder of ESPN for sports broadcasting. He also plans to study business and finance.

“There’s just so many opportunities I see myself at Syracuse, outside of football.”

The award is named for Fulton Walker, a former Martinsburg High and West Virginia University standout. Walker played in the NFL from 1981-86 for the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Raiders. He recorded the first kick return for a touchdown in Super Bowl history, a 98-yarder for Miami in Super Bowl XVII.

Fulton Walker Award winners

(Best High School Football Special Teams Player, as selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association).

Source: WVSWA.org

2025 – Jimmy Gregg, University (P)

2024 – Jordan Price, Huntington (PK)

2023 – Jonny Aya-ya, Huntington (PK)

2022 – Jameer Hunter, Martinsburg (KR-PR)

2021 – Daminn Cunningham, University (KR-PR)

2020 – Colby Piner, Greenbrier East (KR)

2019 – Jarod Bowie, Martinsburg (KR-PR)

2018 – Graeson Malashevich, Spring Valley (KR-PR)

2017 – George Triplett, Elkins (PK)

2016 – Cason Kessinger, Huntington (PK)

2015 – Evan Staley, Hampshire (PK)

2014 – Deonte Glover, Musselman (KR-PR)