Syracuse football placekicker Andre Szmyt has won the 2018 Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top kicker.
He accepted the award live on ESPN during the Home Depot College Football Awards show at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta Georgia on Thursday night, Syracuse said in a news release.
Named for Pro Football Hall of Famer Lou “The Toe” Groza, the award has been presented annually to the best kicker in college football since 1992. It’s kind of the Heisman Trophy Award for kickers. Szmyt beat out fellow finalists Cooper Rothe of Wyoming and Cole Tracy of LSU in a national vote of college football experts to win the award.
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The redshirt freshman from Vernon Hills, Illinois is the first Syracuse kicker to win the Groza Award and third freshman to do so, joining Arizona State’s Thomas Weber in 2007 and Florida State’s Roberto Aguayo in 2013.
Szmyt, who started his Orange career as a walk-on, leads the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) in nearly every kicking category. He tops the nation in field goals made (28), field goals attempted (32), field goals made per game (2.33), and points scored per game (11.8), the school said.
He is second in the country in scoring (141 points) and tied for eighth in the FBS in field-goal percentage (.875).
Szmyt 141 points are a Syracuse record and rank third on the Atlantic Coast Conference single-season scoring list.
Szmyt is 21-for-22 from inside 40 yards and 3-for-3 from beyond 50 yards. He has also made all 57 of his point-after attempts (20-yard kicks) this season.
In addition to his kicking honor, Szmyt and teammate Andre Cisco, a defensive back from Valley Stream in Nassau County, became the first freshmen in Syracuse program history to earn All-America honors Thursday night when they were named 2018 Walter Camp All-Americans.
Szmyt and his Syracuse teammates will face the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Camping World Bowl on the evening of Dec. 28 in Orlando, Florida.
About Szmyt
Predominantly a soccer player in high school, Szmyt joined the Orange as a walk-on in 2017.
After redshirting his first season, Szmyt won the starting placekicking job during preseason camp. He kicked two field goals in his debut on Aug. 31 at Western Michigan and started the year 16-for-17 to earn a scholarship after just six games.
Szmyt kept up his “torrid pace” in the second half of the season and is only three field goals shy of national record of 31 set by Georgia’s Billy Bennett in 2003, Syracuse said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
