BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – One day after being named Conference USA Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year, Brayden Narveson has claimed a place on the Lou Groza Award Preseason Watch List the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Wednesday.
Accomplishments are tabulated throughout the season and the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award will announce its 20 semifinalists on Thursday, November 3rd. From this list, a panel of more than 100 FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists, and current NFL kickers selects the top three finalists for the award, announced on Tuesday, November 22nd. That same group then selects the national winner, who will be announced on Thursday, December 8th during the Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
Narveson returns to WKU as one of the most dynamic kickers in all of college football. The redshirt junior hit on 23-of-29 field goal attempts in 2021 with a long of 53 yards in the Hilltoppers’ win over Marshall to clinch Conference USA’s East Division Championship. He was also perfect on all his PAT attempts throughout the year, going 72-of-72.
Narveson scored the most points by any kicker in the country a season ago with 141. That number was also second-best among all players regardless of position. Narveson’s mark of 10.1 points per game was sixth best in the nation, and he finished 13th in the country in field goals per game. His 23 makes tied him for the most in a single season in WKU history. He enters the 2022 season as the most accurate field goal kicker all time at WKU with a clip of 83.7 percent.
The 31st Annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, presented by the Orange Bowl, recognizes the three finalists during a celebration in Palm Beach County, culminating with a gala awards banquet at the West Palm Beach Marriott on December 5th.
The Award is named for National Football League Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954. Although an All-Pro offensive lineman as well, Groza ushered in the notion that there should be a place on an NFL roster for a kicker.
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