It was an accomplishment nobody said he could achieve.

That was the focus of Minnesota punter/holder Peter Mortell’s speech last season when he was self-awarded the Holder of the Year award.

Last year, ESPN caught wind of Mortell’s self-appointed accolade and decided to allow the Gopher to address a national audience as a winner of a major college football award. This year, Mortell decided to keep the momentum going and allow nominations for the 2016 Holder of the Year.

The final list of candidates was released from Mortell’s Twitter account:

The list contains several candidates and it appears to be a tight race entering Week 10 of the season.

Wondering what the criteria are for an award like this? No worries, Mortell has it outlined. Quality of cadence, fluidity of hands, post-hold celebration and positioning of laces are all key components essential with determining the winner. Successful fake field goal attempts will also carry some weight.

It’s going to be hard to live up to the extreme expectations that Mortell set last year.