Add another title to the resume of Orlando Boon punter Johnny Townsend.
He is a U.S. Army All-American, a future Ohio State Buckeye, 2012 Florida Class 8A All-State, 2012 Central Florida All-Star, an Eagle Scout, the 2012 Boone High homecoming king, and now he's the winner of the 2013 Doc Blanchard Award.
Friday night, when Townsend and the rest of the athletes performing in Saturday's U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, sat down for dinner at the annual awards banquet, he had no idea he was an award finalist.
About an hour later, Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen was presenting the award to Townsend as the Felix "Doc" Blanchard Award winner.
"It was pretty unexpected," said Townsend. "I didn’t even know I was up for any award when I first got there, but I was flipping through the program and I saw my name. That’s how I knew.
"At least we didn't have to give any speeches."
For sure, because Townsend would have been quite unprepared.
"They brought us back and I had known for only about 15-20 minutes before the presentation," Townsend said. "I hadn’t really read up on the reward until later and so that only made it that much more meaningful."
The Doc Blanchard Award and the Glenn Davis Award are given annually to the two players at the U.S. Army Bowl, a representative from both the East and West squads, who best exemplify the U.S. Army’s high standard of excellence in community service, education and athletic distinction.
Wide receiver Corey Robinson from San Antonio Christian School, won the Glenn Davis Award.
In Saturday's U.S. Army All-American Bowl, Townsend, who averaged 43.4 yards per punt his senior season at Boone, boomed a 50-yard punt inside the 5-yard line on his first attempt of the game at the Alamodome. He punted two other times in the game, with one attempt getting partially blocked.
"It was awesome," Townsend said. "I was nervous before the game me and my roommate we didn’t even sleep hardly. We were just too excited. It was the biggest crowd I had ever played before. There were so many people."
