Senior punter Nic Russo has become the fourth Northwestern State player to be included on the 2012 College Football Performance Awards watch list for Football Championship Subdivision standouts at his position.

Russo joined NSU teammates Derek Rose (linebacker), Jamaal White (safety) and John Shaughnessy (kicker) on the CFPA watch lists.

They will report to preseason camp Aug. 1, exactly one month before the Demons begin the 2012 season on the road against Texas Tech.

In his first year as a starter in 2011, Russo developed into a potent weapon for field position with his accuracy and hang-time on punts. He averaged 38.3 yards on 63 punts, 31 which were fair caught. Opponents returned only 11 for an average of 6.7 yards, with nearly half of the 74 return yards coming on one 31-yard runback. In conference play, opponents averaged only 0.2 yards per try on six runbacks.

Russo had 17 punts downed inside the 20 yard line, with only three touchbacks. He had four punts over 50 yards, with a career long of 61.

A Grand Prairie, Texas-South Grand Prairie High School product, Russo was chosen by teammates as a Demon Deacon before spring practice 2011, serving as a special teams representative on the team's leadership council.