July 12, 2017
All-American Daniel Carlson is one of the top names on the Lou Groza Award watch list entering his final season on The Plains, as was announced Wednesday morning.
Each year, the Lou Groza Award is presented to the best place kicker in college football by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The award is voted on by a group of coaches, sportswriters, sportscasters, conference officials, professional kickers and past winners from across the country.
The preseason watch list is completed based on knowledge from the previous season(s) and expected production. Any placekicker is available for the award even if not placed on the watch list.
Carlson has been among the three Groza Award finalists the past two seasons. The Colorado Springs, Colo., native has totaled for at least 109 points in each season as the starting kicker (39 games) and has improved on accuracy every year, finishing last season with an 87.5 percent accuracy rate.
Carlson connected on four field goals of 50 yards or more last season, which placed second to 2016 Groza Award winner Zane Gonzalez of Arizona State.
Carlson is a back-to-back second team All-American and is a two-time first team all-SEC performer. The senior was named 2016 SEC Special Teams Player of the Year and has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in three consecutive years.
Before Carlson, John Vaughn was a Groza finalist for the Tigers in 2006 after stringing together 20 made field goals on 24 attempts (83.3 percent).
Two years later, Wes Byrum was a semifinalist for the prestigious award. Byrum only attempted 16 field goals, connecting on 15. He finished the 2008 season with 99 points and made five of six field goals from 40-plus yards.