WEST PALM BEACH – Texas A&M football's Randy Bondy has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Tuesday. The Lou Groza Award is given annually to the nation's best placekicker.Â
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Bond ranks 13th nationally and fourth in the SEC with 17 made field goals, while his 89.5 field goal percentage is the third-best in the league and 17th nationally. The graduate has been perfect in extra point attempts splitting the uprights 36 times. Bond's 87 points this season rank fifth in the SEC and 19th in the nation. The Plano, Texas, native is one of two SEC kickers this season to make multiple 50-plus yard field goals in a game after he connected on a 52-yarder and career-long 55-yard field goal against South Carolina.
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Semifinalists will be voted on by a panel of FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists, and current NFL kickers to select the three finalists. The finalists will be announced on Nov. 26 and honored at the 33rd annual Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award Banquet on Dec. 9 in Palm Beach County. The winner will be announced on ESPN at the Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 12.
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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.Â
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Bond ranks 13th nationally and fourth in the SEC with 17 made field goals, while his 89.5 field goal percentage is the third-best in the league and 17th nationally. The graduate has been perfect in extra point attempts splitting the uprights 36 times. Bond's 87 points this season rank fifth in the SEC and 19th in the nation. The Plano, Texas, native is one of two SEC kickers this season to make multiple 50-plus yard field goals in a game after he connected on a 52-yarder and career-long 55-yard field goal against South Carolina.
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Semifinalists will be voted on by a panel of FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists, and current NFL kickers to select the three finalists. The finalists will be announced on Nov. 26 and honored at the 33rd annual Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award Banquet on Dec. 9 in Palm Beach County. The winner will be announced on ESPN at the Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 12.
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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.Â