Oklahoma State punter Tom Hutton announces end of career after injury

STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State punter Tom Hutton, a 32-year-old Australian native, announced via social media Tuesday evening the end of his senior season and career with the Cowboys. Hutton suffered an injury during the fourth quarter of a loss at Kansas State on Saturday.

“That’s a wrap,” Hutton said in his Instagram post.

A fourth-year senior, Hutton has the option to return to Oklahoma State for an extra year of eligibility, but has already said he will return to Australia after this spring when he completes his degree. Hutton is believed to be the oldest active FBS player.

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Hutton played in 45 career games for Oklahoma State, starting every game from his freshman season in 2019 up through the eight games played so far in 2022. He is considered to be one of the best target punts in the nation, ranking No. 7 in the FBS with 18 punts downed inside the 20 this season.

A native of Newborough, Victoria, Australia, Hutton joined the Oklahoma State football program prior to the 2019 season through ProKick Australia, a program developed in 2007 to train, guide and transition Australian athletes to perform at the college and professional level of American-style football.

Hutton increased his averaging distance on punts each season, finishing with an average of 43.8 yards per punt in 2022 compared to an average of just 38.7 as a freshman in 2019. Hutton had 44 punts through eight games in 2022, with a long of 53 yards. Only one of his punts resulted in a touchback and seven went at least 50 yards.

His career-long was a 62-yard punt against West Virginia during his sophomore season in 2020.

Before Hutton started playing American football, he played Australian-rules football with YallournYallourn North in the Mid Gippsland Football League. He was also working 12-hour shifts at a paper mill.

Hutton ends his college career at a four-year starter at Oklahoma State and earned multiple first team Academic All-Big 12 honors, multiple honorable mention all-conference honors and was a key factor in the Cowboys’ consistently ranking among the national leaders in opponent punt return average.

With Hutton sidelined for the remainder of the 2022 season, redshirt freshman walk-on Logan Ward will assume the punting duties for Oklahoma State. The former Edmond (Okla.) Deer Creek standout attempted two punts in the Cowboys’ win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff earlier this season. He averaged 57.5 yards per punt with a long of 63 yards.

“I feel comfortable with him coming in and punting,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said on Monday. “Now, he’s inexperienced. Kind of the same thing we were talking about with quarterback. Little bit different that quarterbacks because it’s more magnified, but I feel good about Logan if he has to come in…