Harrison semifinalist for Groza Award
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 31, 2008
USAFA, Colo. - Air Force senior kicker Ryan Harrison has been named a semifinalist for the 2008 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award as announced today by the Palm Beach County (Florida) Sports Commission. Harrison is one of 20 semifinalists for the 17th annual award.
Harrison leads the Mountain West Conference, and is tied for second in the nation, averaging 2.00 field goals per game. The Keller, Texas, native is second in the MWC and is tied for 19th in the nation, averaging 9.0 points per game. He leads the MWC in field goal percentage, hitting on 16 of 18 attempts for an 88.9 percentage. He is a perfect 24-of-24 on PAT attempts. Earlier in the season, Harrison had a streak of 16 consecutive field goals made that dated back to last season. His streak ended vs. Houston, but Harrison has currently hit six straight with three field goals in each game against New Mexico and UNLV. He has tied his career high of three field goals in a game four times this season and five times in his career. He was named the MWC Special Teams Player of the Week on Oct. 20 as he hit three field goals (26, 23, 19), including the game-winner with just over two minutes left, to beat UNLV. Last week, he hit three field goals (30, 43, 32) vs. New Mexico in AFA's 23-10 victory. Harrison also handles all kickoff and punting duties for the Falcons.
Harrison is one of three MWC kickers named as semifinalist as Utah's Louie Sakoda and TCU's Ross Evans were also selected. Other semifinalists are Arkansas State's Josh Sarauco, Arizona's Jason Bondzio, Miami's Matt Bosher, Florida State's Graham Gano, Troy's Sam Glusman, Navy's Matt Harmon, Penn State's Kevin Kelly, Virginia Tech's Dustin Keys, UTEP's Jose Martinez, West Virginia's Pat McAfee, Florida's Jonathan Phillips, Cincinnati's Jake Rogers, Syracuse's Patrick Shadle, Mississippi's Joshua Shene, Alabama's Leigh Tiffin, Wisconsin's Phillip Welch and Missouri's Jeff Wolfert.
Semi-Finalists will be voted on by a panel consisting of all Division 1 coaches and SID's, along with national, regional and local football writers and others who will select the three finalists. These finalists will be invited to the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet December 7-9 in West Palm Beach, Fla. The winner will be announced live on the nationally-televised Home Deport ESPNU College Football Awards Program on the evening of December 11, 2008.
The award is named in honor of one of the all-time great kickers in Football history, Lou Groza. Groza played 21 seasons for the Cleveland Browns setting numerous franchise records, including most games played, most points scored, and an amazing 107 consecutive games in which he scored a point. The 1,608 career points he scored is still a Browns' franchise record, and he ranks third all-time in league. Groza was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974. Past Groza finalists include current NFL kickers, Nate Kaeding, Sebastion Janikowski, Mike Nugent, Martin Gramatica, Jason Elam and Mason Crosby.
For more information regarding the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award and to follow the season progress, please go to www.lougrozaaward.com. Additional information can be obtained by contacting Charlie Dunn, Director of Marketing at the Palm Beach County Sports Commission at (561) 233-3122 or cdunn@palmbeachsports.com.
