BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU kicker Brayden Narveson has been named Conference USA’s Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.
Preseason player of the year awards were voted on by the league’s 11 coaches. Narveson joins UTSA’s Frank Harris and Rashad Wisdom who were voted as preseason offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively.
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.
Narveson’s recognition marks the third-consecutive season a Hilltopper has been tabbed as a preseason player of the year. DeAngelo Malone was selected by the league’s coaches as Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in both 2021 and 2020. Former punter John Haggerty III joined Malone as the conference’s Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year in 2020.
The Tops open the 2022 campaign on Saturday, Aug. 27, against Austin Peay. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. CT and the game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
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